Carbon nanotube dispersed conductive network for microbial fuel cells

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are promising devices for capturing biomass energy. Although they have recently attracted considerable attention, their power densities are too low for practical use. Increasing their electrode surface area is a key factor for improving the performance of MFC. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which have excellent electrical conductivity and extremely high specific surface area, are promising materials for electrodes. However, CNTs are insoluble in aqueous solution because of their strong intertube van der Waals interactions, which make practical use of CNTs difficult. In this study, we revealed that CNTs have a strong interaction with Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. CNTs attach to the cells and are dispersed in a mixture of water and S. cerevisiae, forming a three-dimensional CNT conductive network. Compared with a conventional two-dimensional electrode, such as carbon paper, the three-dimensional conductive network has a much larger surface area. By applying this conductive network to...