The microbial fuel cell (MFC) is an

The microbial fuel cell (MFC) is an environmentally-friendly technology for treating waste biomass that generates electricity and produces valuable byproducts (Li et al., 2020). The MFC consists of an anode, a cathode, a proton exchange membrane (PEM), biodegradable organic matter, and electrochemically-active microorganisms (Santoro et al., 2017; Wang & Ren, 2013). In the anode chamber, microorganisms attached to the anode electrode break down the organic matter and generate electrons. These electrons are then transferred to the anode in three different ways and flow through an external circuit to the cathode, where they react with the terminal electron acceptor to generate electricity (Kircheva et al., 2015; Xia et al., 2019). Many researchers have extensively investigated and developed the use of MFCs to produce electricity from biodegradable substrates (Hou et al., 2016; Khan et al., 2017; Ma et al., 2017). Despite some progress, there are still challenges that hinder the widespread application of MFCs, such as lower energy efficiency, higher material costs, and sustained and efficient electrochemical performance.