The present work evaluates, for the first time, the potential use of supported liquid membranes based on
ionic liquids as proton exchange membranes in microbial fuel cells. Specifically, ionic liquids based on
1-
n
-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium (
n
-butyl,
n
-octyl) and methyl trioctylammonium cation combining with
hexafluorophosphate, tetrafluoroborate, chloride and bis{(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl}imide anions were
used. Nafion
Ò
and Ultrex
Ò
membranes were used as reference membranes. It has been demonstrated that
supported ionic liquids membranes based on ionic liquids could act as proton exchange membrane in
microbial fuel cells, being power and chemical oxygen demanded removal (i.e. 103.9 mW/m
3
and
89.1%, respectively for the ammonium based supported ionic liquid membrane) similar or even higher
than conventional proton exchange membranes such as Nafion
Ò
and Ultrex