Improving the efficiency of microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology by enhancing the system performance and reducing the production cost is essential for commercialisation. In this study, building an additive manufacturing (AM)-built MFC comprising all 3D printed components such as anode, cathode and chassis was attempted for the first time. 3D printed base structures were made of low-cost, biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) filaments. For both anode and cathode, two surface modification methods using either graphite or nickel powder were tested. The best performing anode material, carbon-coated non-conductive PLA filament, was comparable to the control modified carbon veil with a peak power of 376.7 µW (7.5 W m−3) in week 3. However, PLA-based AM cathodes underperformed regardless of the coating method, which limited the overall performance. The membrane-less design produced more stable and higher power output levels (520−570 µW, 7.4−8.1 W m−3) compared to the ceramic membrane control MFCs. As the final design, four AM-made membrane-less MFCs connected in series successfully powered a digital weather station, which shows the current status of low-cost 3D printed MFC development.

中文翻译：

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使用增材层制造完成微生物燃料电池制造

通过提高系统性能和降低生产成本来提高微生物燃料电池 (MFC) 技术的效率对于商业化至关重要。在这项研究中，首次尝试构建由所有 3D 打印组件（如阳极、阴极和底盘）组成的增材制造 (AM) 构建的 MFC。3D 打印的基础结构由低成本、可生物降解的聚乳酸 (PLA) 长丝制成。对于阳极和阴极，测试了使用石墨或镍粉的两种表面改性方法。性能最好的阳极材料，碳包覆的非导电 PLA 灯丝，在第 3 周的峰值功率为 376.7 µW（7.5 W m-3），与对照改性碳幕相当。然而，PLA 基 AM 阴极表现不佳，无论如何的涂层方法，这限制了整体性能。与陶瓷膜控制 MFC 相比，无膜设计产生了更稳定和更高的功率输出水平（520-570 µW，7.4-8.1 W m-3）。作为最终设计，四个 AM 制造的无膜 MFC 串联连接成功地为数字气象站供电，这显示了低成本 3D 打印 MFC 开发的现状。