Concurrent energy recovery and wastewater treatment in an enhanced microbial fuel cell utilizing negatively functionalized KIT-6 embedded into sulfonated poly ether sulfone as a novel proton exchange membrane
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Ali Akbar Zinatizadeh: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0442-0841
Abstract
Mesoporous silica-based materials (SBA-15, TUD-1, HMM-33, KIT-6, FSM-16, etc.) with spongy-like structure are high-efficient candidates for the manufacture of ion exchange membranes (IEMs). According to the literatures, the more functionalized sites, the higher ions transfer can be achieved. In the present work, we chose KIT-6 functionalized with sulfonic groups to embed into the sulfonated poly ether sulfone (SPES) as the composite membrane and have evaluated its performance in a microbial fuel cell (MFC). Structural analysis of membranes demonstrated that S-KIT-6 with percentage of 1.5 could create a smooth surface with acceptable hydrophilicity which not only improved proton exchange ability, but also increase power production of the system. The characterization results were in agreement with experimental data. The MFC working with SPES/S-KIT-6-1.5% could achieve the highest power density with value of 0.824 ± 0.02 which was 8-fold and 35.82-fold higher than that of Nafion 117 and SPES, respectively. S-KIT-6-1.5% could recover 57.8% of the generated electrons whereas; maximum COD removal belonged to SPES/S-KIT-6-0.7% with the amount of 94.5 ± 6.2%. We introduced the new mesoporous materials modified membranes that have high potential to be installed in the MFCs and meet their needs.
Keywords
KIT-6, microbial fuel cell, proton exchange membrane, sulfonated poly ether sulfone
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2026
Publication Title
Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering
Publisher
Springer
School
School of Engineering
Funders
Razi University / Iran National Science Foundation
Copyright
subscription content
Comments
Halvaeifard, R., Zinatizadeh, A. A., Zinadini, S., Virdis, B., & Gholami, F. (2026). Concurrent energy recovery and wastewater treatment in an enhanced microbial fuel cell utilizing negatively functionalized KIT-6 embedded into sulfonated poly ether sulfone as a novel proton exchange membrane. Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-026-00666-7