Electrocoating of polyaniline on graphite carbon and activated carbon cloth surfaces as an anode and its effect on performance of microbial fuel cell

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a bioelectrochemical-based reactor that can generate electrical energy directly from wastewater by utilizing microbial activity that oxidizes the waste organic matter. This study aims to synthesize polyaniline (PANI) and deposit on a graphite carbon electrode (GCE) and activated carbon cloth (ACC) surface to use as an anode material for MFCs. The MFC performance was evaluated using oxygen and ferricyanide as electron acceptors. PANI was electropolymerized from its aniline monomer and deposited using an electrophoretic deposition method onto the electrode surface. A PANI thin film was characterized using FTIR, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), BET, and electrochemical analysis. The analysis results show the characteristic peaks of PANI at 1557 cm⁻¹, demonstratinjg the existence of quinoid rings (NQN), while the peaks at 1479 and 1400 cm⁻¹ corresponding to the benzenoid (NBN) stretching in the PANI structure. The FESEM analysis confirmed that PANI appeared to have a porous structure on modified electrodes. It was found that the best system was MFC with ferricyanide as the electron acceptor. The highest power density produced is 254 mWm⁻² from GCE-PANI and 16.47 mWm⁻² from ACC-PANI. The normalized energy recovery of GCE-PANI and ACC-PANI in ferricyanide is 0.115 kWh kgCOD⁻¹ and 5.67 × 10⁻³ kWh kgCOD⁻¹, respectively. The COD removal was observed to be 88.8% for GCE-PANI and 87.2% for ACC-PANI from 1000 mg/L COD.