Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) can directly convert the chemical energy stored in organic matter to electricity and are of considerable interest for power generation and wastewater treatment. However, the current MFCs typically exhibit unsatisfactorily low power densities that are largely limited by the sluggish transmembrane and extracellular electron-transfer processes. Here, we report a rational strategy to boost the charge-extraction efficiency in Shewanella MFCs substantially by introducing transmembrane and outer-membrane silver nanoparticles. The resulting Shewanella-silver MFCs deliver a maximum current density of 3.85 milliamperes per square centimeter, power density of 0.66 milliwatts per square centimeter, and single-cell turnover frequency of 8.6 × 10⁵ per second, which are all considerably higher than those of the best MFCs reported to date. Additionally, the hybrid MFCs feature an excellent fuel-utilization efficiency, with a coulombic efficiency of 81%.

中文翻译：

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银纳米粒子提高希瓦氏菌微生物燃料电池的电荷提取效率

微生物燃料电池 (MFC) 可以将储存在有机物中的化学能直接转化为电能，在发电和废水处理方面具有相当大的意义。然而，目前的 MFC 通常表现出不令人满意的低功率密度，这在很大程度上受到缓慢的跨膜和细胞外电子转移过程的限制。在这里，我们报告了一种合理的策略，通过引入跨膜和外膜银纳米粒子来显着提高Shewanella MFC 中的电荷提取效率。由此产生的Shewanella -silver MFC 的最大电流密度为 3.85 毫安/平方厘米，功率密度为 0.66 毫瓦/平方厘米，单电池周转频率为 8.6 × 10 ⁵每秒，这都大大高于迄今为止报告的最佳 MFC。此外，混合 MFC 具有出色的燃料利用效率，库仑效率为 81%。