Re: [DIYbio] Microbial Fuel Cell

I'm thinking of using Gore-Tex for the membrane.

Have you tried plant MFCs or any single chamber PEM-less designs?

-Carlos

On Jun 25, 2013, at 8:01 AM, Pieter <pieterva...@gmail.com> wrote:

We are having regular meetups on building MFCs at the Open Wetlab. We already tried several designs and are now designing and building our own. We do have a 2 chamber MFC in mind, and actually looking into several options for a membrane. 

It seems like everyone is using Nafion membranes, but they turn out to be ridiculously expensive and the only supplier in Holland is Sigma Aldrich. 

Does any have suggestions for cheap proton exchange membranes?

We tried agar agar with salt, it works, but is not sustainable...

On Tuesday, 25 June 2013 09:54:40 UTC+2, Carlos Castellanos wrote:

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in constructing a microbial fuel cell (several actually) and thought I would ask the group to see if anyone has experience with them.

I've been looking at tutorials online and am probably going to build the standard, 2-chamber design MFC to get started. It will likely be quite large (so as to get enough voltage) but eventually I want to scale down and be more compact and efficient. I've been reading Bruce Logan's excellent work in this area. Apparently, there is a single chamber air cathode, PEM-less design that he demonstrates that seems to work better (i.e. generates more power) than the standard two chamber designs with a PEM. Any thought pointers, or even design specs and/or instructions you can provide on MFC chambers would be appreciated.

I am also interested in plant-based MFCs. I was thinking of using Glyceria maxima (Reed Sweetgrass) but since its an invasive species I'd rather go with something native to the Pacific Northwest. If anyone can recommend a good plant for an MFC that is easy to get in the Vancouver area, please let me know!

Best,
Carlos

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