Electrostatically enhanced performance of a yeast-based microbial fuel cell

An electrically insulated electrode was connected via a voltage source to the anode of a compact two-compartment microbial fuel cell, which employed yeast as the anode catalyst. Applying a dc voltage of 0.5 V between the anode and the insulated electrode caused the open-circuit voltage of the cell to increase from 0.3 V to 0.47 V. The dc voltage also extended the operation current and increased the power output of the fuel cell. Since no current was induced in the insulated electrode-anode circuit, no power was delivered by the voltage source to the fuel cell system. The electrostatic method appears as an additional parameter in the design of biofuel cells.