Separator materials in microbial fuel cell contrary to waste treatment in space

In order to obtain a separator material with higher performance and lower cost, four materials including alkaline battery separator, lithium-ion battery separator, and two different kinds of activated carbon-stainless steel separators were discussed. The results show that, the ordinary alkaline battery separator has excellent permeability of hydrogen, but the high permeability of moisture and oxygen restrains its application in microbial fuel cell (MFC) and needs to be further improved. The output power of MFCs with the rolled and brushed activated carbon-stainless steel separators is higher than that with cation exchange membrane, due to the lower resistance. The characteristics of the rolled and brushed activated carbon-stainless steel separators are similar, while the cost of the latter is lower, thus the brushed activated carbon-stainless steel separator is considered to be the ideal separator material for MFC.