Abstract
In the present paper, the K
2S
2O
8–Fe
2+ system without pH adjustment was used as a cathodic reactant in a two-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) for the first time. The performance of the MFC with K
2S
2O
8–Fe
2+ system was discussed and compared with that of K
2S
2O
8 and H
2O
2–Fe
2+ system, respectively. These results demonstrated that the introduced ferrous ion could improve the power generation significantly. The initial K
2S
2O
8/Fe
2+ molar ratios and the pH, which can affect the performance of MFC, were discussed later. The results revealed that K
2S
2O
8–Fe
2+ system achieved the best performance at K
2S
2O
8/Fe
2+ molar ratios of 2:1 and the K
2S
2O
8-Fe
2+ system was stable with varying pH value. This study demonstrated that the K
2S
2O
8–Fe
2+ system can be used as an effective cathodic reactant due to its excellent performance.
► The authors proposed a novel cathodic reagent of K
2S
2O
8–Fe
2+ system in a two-chamber MFC. ► The power generation of the MFC with K
2S
2O
8–Fe
2+ was higher than that with K
2S
2O
8. ► The K
2S
2O
8–Fe
2+ system performed better than H
2O
2–Fe
2+ system in MFC. ► The voltage output of MFC using K
2S
2O
8–Fe
2+ system was just slightly influenced by pH.