economical (Lee et al., 2006). Furthermore, the surface sensitivity
of these designer carbon materials may not be appropriate for all
fuel cell types such as microbial fuel cells (MFC) that operate in
complex waste-streams and generate low (mW-W/m3) power densities
(Kiely et al., 2010). Thus more versatile carbon materials
need to be developed that are straightforward, less resource intensive,
reliable at scale, and with characteristics appropriate to the
operating environment.
MFCs are a flexible platform technology at the nexus of water
and energy, which utilizes the metabolic activity of electrochemically
active bacteria to oxidize biodegradable substrates, such as
waste, and generate an electrical current (Logan et al., 2006).
This technology has been used in energy production from wastewater,
remote sensing, and many other areas (Wang and Ren, 2013).
In order to achieve practical implementation, MFCs will need to be
scaled by several orders of magnitude (in the range of m3) to be
suitable for wastewater treatment. Yet one of the greatest costs
associated with MFC development are the cathode materials,