Chitosan (Cs) is one of the biopolymers increasingly employed to prepare proton exchange membranes (PEMs) in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In this work, Cs is blended with three other natural or synthetic biopolymers including alginate (Alg), carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) followed by cross-linking/ plasticization with phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, 3-(Trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TMSPM), and glycerol (Gly), techniques have been examined as enhancement to neat Cs PEM in MFC system. The obtained membranes were characterized by FTIR, XRD, FESEM, mechanical properties, sorption study, and cation exchange capacity studies. The performance of the cross-linked and plasticized blended Cs membranes was evaluated in bio-power production and COD removal with municipal wastewater as an anolyte in the typical 2-chambered MFCs. The performance of MFC attached Cs PEM with the power density of 237 mW/m³ was increased up to 365 mW/m³ when it installed Cs/Alg. Therefore, after plasticization, power densities were decreased; however, COD removal of 23% for Cs/Alg membrane was increased up to 88% for phosphoric acid cross-linked Cs/Alg. The results confirm that this material could be a promising enhanced alternative to neat Cs, as a PEM in MFCs.

壳聚糖（Cs）是越来越多地用于制备微生物燃料电池（MFCs）中的质子交换膜（PEM）的生物聚合物之一。在这项工作中，Cs与其他三种天然或合成的生物聚合物共混，包括藻酸盐（Alg），羧甲基纤维素（CMC）和聚乙烯醇（PVA），然后与磷酸，硫酸，3-（三甲氧基甲硅烷基）丙基交联/增塑甲基丙烯酸酯（TMSPM）和甘油（Gly），已经作为增强MFC系统中纯净Cs PEM的技术进行了研究。通过FTIR，XRD，FESEM，机械性能，吸附研究和阳离子交换容量研究来表征所获得的膜。在典型的2室MFC中，通过生物发电和市政废水作为阳极电解液的COD去除，评估了交联增塑的Cs膜的性能。当安装Cs / Alg时，³增大到365 mW / m ³。因此，塑化后，功率密度降低；但是，对于Cs / Alg膜，COD去除率达到23％，而磷酸交联的Cs / Alg去除率高达88％。结果证实，这种材料可以作为纯Cs的有前途的增强替代品，作为MFC中的PEM。