Rahul Kumar Mishra, Soumyajit Chandra, Bhim Sen Thapa, Harjot Singh Gill, Elvis Fosso Kankeu, Hendrix Y. Setyawan, Soumya Pandit
Microbial desalination cells (MDCs) are bio-electrochemical systems that use the electric potential generated by microbial metabolism as the main driving force to separate ions into the respective chambers. To improve the performance of MDCs in Reverse osmosis (RO)-rejected wastewater treatment, a newly introduced area of research, this work presents a borophene + Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite as a high-performance anode material. The main reason for preparing the nanocomposite was to improve electron mobility and surface reactivity, which in turn would result in an improved bioelectrochemical interface. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurement demonstrates that electron transport is facilitated in the modified electrode and hence power density is increased. As a result of the increased nanocomposite loading, both desalination efficiency and Coulombic efficiency were substantially elevated, thus bio-electrochemical reactions in this case are material-facilitated. Comparing the modified and the unmodified MDCs, the highest volumetric power density of 5.2 W/m³ was achieved with the borophene + Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite modified anode, accompanied by 90% desalination efficacy. The investigation of borophene + Fe3O4 as an electrode material made for next-generation anode material is quite convincing. The next step in research should be the maximum loading of the nanocomposite, evaluation of its long-term stability, and performing scalability experiments in connection with real energy recovery and water treatment applications. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.
Department of Life Sciences, Sharda University, Uttar Pradesh, Greater Noida, 201306, India; Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, 53233, WI, United States; Institute of Engineering and e-governance, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Gharuan, India; Department of Metallurgy, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa; Department of Agricultural Technology, Universitas Brawijaya, East Java, Malang, Indonesia
