Electro-polymerization of pyrrole on graphite electrode: enhancement of electron transfer in bioanode of microbial fuel cell

The enhancement of the power output of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) relays on two important issues: the immobilization of the catalyst microbial film on the bioanode where oxidation occurs and the electron transfer between them. In the present work, a graphite rod was used as anode and modified by electro-polymerisation using the conducting polymer (pyrrole). It was resulted in an improvement of the electronic conduction, and therefore an increase of the power density of the cell (i.e., from 7 to 25 mW/m2). The electroactive biofilm was produced from compost leachate garden which was deposited naturally on the anode without prior polarization. The efficiency of this modification was investigated with the aim to determine the supply of pyrrole in term of electricity generation. The results show enormous power density supply of the MFC using bioanode modified with pyrrole. Besides, since the energy produced by a MFC is too small, it would be interesting to recover the maximum of it by selecting the appropriate materials which fulfill the two criteria: better electron transfer and longer bacteria life.