A team of scientists from the University of Bath, Queen Mary University of London and the Bristol Robotics Laboratory have developed microbial fuel cells that draw energy from urine. The work was published in the journal Electrochimica Acta.
Microbial fuel cells work on the ability of some bacteria to process organic matter, so that electrical current can be generated. At the same time, room temperature and normal pressure are sufficient, which is unattainable with other methods of obtaining bioenergy. The researchers' goal was to reduce the cost of standard devices of this type, as well as increase their power generation.
To create microbial fuel cells, electrodes containing expensive materials such as platinum are usually used. In their work, the scientists decided to use cheap carbon fiber and titanium wire. In order to speed up the reaction, the microbial element contained a catalyst made from glucose and egg white. Urine was used as an energy source.
Researchers tested the effectiveness of the device by changing the parameters of its individual elements. It turned out that increasing the length of the electrode from four to eight millimeters increases the output power tenfold.
According to Jon Chouler, one of the authors of the paper, the new design is cheaper and more powerful than traditional microbial fuel cells.
Previously, a team of scientists from Princeton University and Florida University Gulf Coast used rotten tomatoes as an energy source for microbial fuel cells.