Affiliations 

  • 1 Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences (IOES), Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
  • 2 State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
  • 3 Department of Physical Chemistry, School of Chemistry, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai 625021, Tamil Nadu, India
iScience, 2024 Apr 19;27(4):109564.
PMID: 38617563 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109564

Abstract

The successful commercialization of algal biophotovoltaics (BPV) technology hinges upon a multifaceted approach, encompassing factors such as the development of a cost-efficient and highly conductive anode material. To address this issue, we developed an environmentally benign method of producing reduced graphene oxide (rGO), using concentrated Chlorella sp. UMACC 313 suspensions as the reducing agent. The produced rGO was subsequently coated on the carbon paper (rGO-CP) and used as the BPV device's anode. As a result, maximum power density was increased by 950% for Chlorella sp. UMACC 258 (0.210 mW m-2) and 781% for Synechococcus sp. UMACC 371 (0.555 mW m-2) compared to bare CP. The improved microalgae adhesion to the anode and improved electrical conductivity of rGO brought on by the effective removal of oxygen functional groups may be the causes of this. This study has demonstrated how microalgal-reduced GO may improve the efficiency of algal BPV for producing bioelectricity.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.