School Of Environment And Earth Sciences
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Item Anode modification: An approach to improve power generation in microbial fuel cells (MFCs)(Elsevier, 2023-01-27T00:00:00) Rani, Gini; Jaswal, Vijay; Yogalakshmi, K.N.Global energy demand is continuously increasing and has become a matter of concern. At present, 86% of the energy demand are accomplished by fossil fuels, but these deliver harmful effects on the environment by releasing CO2 in the atmosphere. Contrary, though nonrenewable resources such as solar, wind, and bioenergy possess minimal carbon footprints, they suffer from limitations of higher installation cost, low efficiency, and complex operation system. Since the past two decades, a relatively new sustainable technology, the microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have emerged with potential to convert the bond energy of molecules present in organic/inorganic waste into electric energy with the help of microbes. The electricity produced through the release of electrons during microbial degradation of organic waste can be used to offset the running cost of wastewater treatment plants. The performance of the MFCs is influenced by a number of cofactors, viz. type of reactor, nature of feed, microbial consortia, electrode material, and mode of operation. Anode plays a significant role in the power enhancement. Across the globe, various research groups are working to enhance the efficiency and power output of anode through its modification using conductive polymers (polypyrrole and polyaniline), metal oxides, nanomaterials, and many others. MFC operated with the electrochemically reduced graphene oxide modified anode evidenced a power density enhanced by 17.5 times as compared to carbon cloth. In the past 5 years, power density ranging from 6.12 to 6119mWm?2 was observed with various modified anode. The chapter will throw light on anode materials popularly used in MFC, method/techniques used for its modification to enhance energy output and limitations that restrict its wide-scale application. � 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Item An Insight into Biological Photovoltaic Cell Based Electrochemical System(Springer Singapore, 2021-02-02T00:00:00) Rani, Gini; Jaswal, Vijay; Banu, Rajesh; Yogalakshmi, K.N.Biological photovoltaic cells can be called as living solar cells. They use oxygenic photoautotrophs such as cyanobacteria and algae, instead of silicon, to capture light energy for photolysis. The organisms such as cyanobacteria and algae capture light energy during the process of photosynthesis and perform charge separation of water molecules (photolysis), producing protons, electrons, and oxygen molecules. The electrons thus produced are transferred to the anode and through external circuit they move to cathode to get reduced to water, producing electric current. Biophotovoltaic (BPV) are different from traditional silicon based solar photovoltaics (SPV) cells in a number of ways. Unlike SPV, the presence of water is imperative in BPV for the algae/cyanobacteria to perform photolysis. The BPV are self-renewing in nature and do not require any external carbon source for growth. The technology of BPV can be incorporated in bioelectrochemical systems (BES) to generate green energy. BPV based electrochemical technology can be used as solar bio-battery or bio-solar panel. It can also be utilized in low powered devices such as alarm clocks. Despite the multiple advantages of BPV, still they are in the threshold of its development due to its energy conversion efficiency. The chapter would comprehensively explain the principle, working, and application of biological photovoltaic systems. � Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020.