I received my bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Sichuan University and majored in Advanced materials at UCL. I am currently working on microbial fuel cells (MFCS) at UCL with conductive hydrogels for their anodes (2023.09-2024.09). A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a bio-electrochemical system that converts chemical energy to electrical energy through reactions catalyzed by microorganisms under anaerobic conditions.Increasing the specific surface area of the anode can increase the contact area between it and yeast to a certain extent, and improve the performance of MFC.
I chose to add yeast to the hydrogel to form pores through the carbon dioxide produced by yeast to increase the specific surface area. Hydrogel bigger volume and higher porosity have the potential to make MFC electrode do not need to soak in the solution.