I would like to be able to control the potential of a cathode and an anode in a microbial fuel cell in which both anode and cathode are colonized by microbe. I want to do this in order to be able to put selective pressure on the microbe of both electrodes.
In case is possible, how to achieve this?
I checked several potentiostatic circuit configuration but none of those I found seem to consider the potential of either the electrodes.
You should be able to control the voltage of the anode and cathode independently by using the reference as a common electrode.
Thanks, for the fast answer Doctor Reiserer. Do you have any schematics of circuit for achieving the said purpose?
Is it sufficient to mirror a potentiostatic circuit and connect the reference to both ?
You can use two reffernce electrodes for the measurement of the cathodic and the anodic potential, but there is no method to keep constant both potentials
Do know that microbial cells have charges which may be cathodic or anodic. It is important to determine the charge (s) on the microbes. Then apply the proposal given by Ron Reiserer above.
What is the configuration of your fuel cell? Do you have an ion exchange membrane? Keep in mind that if you apply voltage to either or both the anode and cathode, you will induce a current into your system and you may supply some current to your load via your electrode potential power supplies.
Identify the microbes in the medium, then monitor the colonization of the microbes by limiting their nutrient requirements. This will checkmate the quality and quantity the electrolyte and hence the capacity of current flow.
My system for now is only theoretical, but it will include some sort of separator ( probably once I have figured out the electronics I will study also the effect of various separators).
About the current from the polarization power supplies, is there a way to quantify it? What order of magnitude are we talking about ?
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