Comparison of Activation Methods for 3D-Printed Electrodes for Microbial Electrochemical Technologies

Three-dimensional printing could provide flexibility in the design of a new generation of electrodes to be used in microbial electrochemical technologies (MET). In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of using polylactic acid (PLA)/graphene—a common 3D-printing material—to build custom bioelect...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied sciences 2022-01, Vol.12 (1), p.275
Main Authors: Alonso, Raúl M., San Martín, Isabel, Morán, Antonio, Escapa, Adrián
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
3-D printers
3D printing
Additive manufacturing
bioanode
Electrochemical analysis
Electrochemistry
Electrodes
exoelectrogen
Graphene
microbial electrochemical technologies
Microorganisms
Polylactic acid
Software
Solvents
Spectrum analysis
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Summary:Three-dimensional printing could provide flexibility in the design of a new generation of electrodes to be used in microbial electrochemical technologies (MET). In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of using polylactic acid (PLA)/graphene—a common 3D-printing material—to build custom bioelectrodes. We also show that a suitable activation procedure is crucial to achieve an acceptable electrochemical performance (plain PLA/graphene bioanodes produce negligible amounts of current). Activation with acetone and dimethylformamide resulted in current densities similar to those typically observed in bioanodes built with more conventional materials (about 5 Am−2). In addition, the electrodes thus activated favored the proliferation of electroactive bacteria.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app12010275