Microbial fuel cell

Abstract

In recent times, the requirement of eco-friendly technologies has gained much prominence, especially those that enable recovering vital resources from wastewater while also treating it to comply with environmental standards. In such a scenario, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have gained importance primarily because of their innate ability to recover energy and other useful resources from wastewater and provide adequate treatment, making this technology unique and sustainable. MFCs can use a variety of substrates, including industrial effluent, lignocellulosic wastes, and landfill leachate, and remove pollutants like heavy metals and other emerging contaminants (dyes, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides). This chapter briefly describes the working principle of MFCs, different substrates utilized in MFCs, various electrode materials and separators used in MFCs, and exoelectrogens employed in MFCs. Apart from presenting the contemporary works and advancements related to MFCs, the chapter provides a glimpse of the possible future direction of research that may be undertaken to achieve the commercialization of MFCs. � 2024 WILEY-VCH GmbH. All rights reserved.