Premium
The Limits of Three‐Dimensionality: Systematic Assessment of Effective Anode Macrostructure Dimensions for Mixed‐Culture Electroactive Biofilms
Author(s) -
Moß Christopher,
Behrens Andreas,
Schröder Uwe
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201902923
Subject(s) - anode , electrode , biofilm , materials science , shear (geology) , nanotechnology , curse of dimensionality , shear stress , current (fluid) , chemical engineering , channel (broadcasting) , chemistry , chemical physics , composite material , thermodynamics , mathematics , computer science , physics , genetics , computer network , statistics , biology , bacteria , engineering
This study analyzes the biofilm growth and long‐term current production of mixed‐culture, electrochemically active biofilms (EABs) on macrostructured electrodes under low‐shear‐force conditions. The channel dimensions were altered systematically in the range 400 μm to 2 mm, and the channel heights were varied between 1 and 4 mm to simulate macrostructures of different scales. Electrodes with finer‐structured surfaces produced higher current densities in the short term owing to their large surface area but were outperformed in the long term because the accumulation of biomass led to limitations of mass transfer into the structures. The best long‐term performance was observed for electrodes with channel dimensions of 1×4 mm, which showed no significant decrease in performance in the long term. Channels with a diameter of 400 μm were overgrown by the biofilm, which led to a transition from 3 D to 2 D behavior, indicating that structures of this scale might not be suitable for long‐term operation under low‐shear‐stress conditions.