From Microbial Fuel Cells to Biobatteries: Moving toward On‐Demand Micropower Generation for Small‐Scale Single‐Use Applications

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) that generate electricity generation from a broad diversity of biomass and organic substrates through microbial metabolism, have attracted considerable research interest as an alternative clean energy technology and energy-efficient wastewater treatment method. Despite encouraging successes and auspicious pilot-scale experiments of the MFCs, increasing doubts about their viability for practical large-scale applications are being raised. Low performance, expensive core parts and materials, energy-intensive operation, and scaling bottlenecks question a sustainable development. Instead, special MFCs for low-power battery-reliant devices might be more applicable and potentially realizable. Such bacteria-powered biobatteries would enable (i) a truly stand-alone device platform suitable for use in resource-limited and remote regions, (ii) simple, on-demand power generation within a programmed period of time, and (iii) a tracelessly biodegradable battery due to the use of the bacteria used for power generation. The biobattery would be an excellent power solution for small-scale, on-demand, single-use, and disposable electronics. Recent progress of small-scale MFCbased biobatteries is critically reviewed with specific attention toward various device platforms. Furthermore, comments and outlook related to the potential directions and challenges of the biobatteries are discussed to offer inspiration to the community and induce fruitful future research. pack. A) Reproduced with permission.

Organic Microbial Electrochemical Transistor Monitoring Extracellular Electron Transfer

“…In this process, typically metal oxides or even polarized electrodes take the role of terminal-end electron acceptors instead of oxygen. EET is important for a wide variety of industrial applications including energy generation via microbial fuel cells (MFCs), [1] biobatteries, [2] and whole cell-based biophotovoltaic cells (BPVCs), [3] storing electrical energy in chemical bonds (microbial electrosynthesis), [4] detection of analytes, [5,6] or even cost-efficient preparation of graphene from graphene oxide [7] in microbial electrochemical systems (MESs). [8] From the perspective of human health, EET has recently been implicated in colonization of the human gut by pathogenic bacteria.…”

A Portable, Single-Use, Paper-Based Microbial Fuel Cell Sensor for Rapid, On-Site Water Quality Monitoring

“…For the cathode, a silver-based mixture was prepared by adding 100 mg of Ag 2 O to 2 mL of the conductive ink. Our previous works have demonstrated that, compared to the widely used potassium ferricyanide and air-cathode used in the preparation of cathodes in MFCs, Ag 2 O showed greater power performance and provided more versatile device design [13,18]. The mixture was sonicated and vortexed before pipetting it onto the cathode reservoir ( Figure 2b).…”

Energy Harvesting and Storage by Water Infiltration of Eggshell Membrane

“…Among them, light‐induced plant bioelectrogenesis has been studied . In addition, there have been several studies on the bioelectric generation from microbial fuel cell (MFC) which generates electrical energy through the oxidation of biodegradable organic matter . For example, harvesting energy from fermented microalgal residue using MFC which produced highest amount of energy and maximum power density compared with other MFCs has been reported .…”

“…[2] In addition, there have been several studies on the bioelectric generation from microbial fuel cell (MFC) which generates electrical energy through the oxidation of biodegradable organic matter. [4][5][6][7][8] For example, harvesting energy from fermented microalgal residue using MFC which produced highest amount of energy and maximum power density compared with other MFCs has been reported. [7] Also the cochlea in the inner ear of guinea pig which could induce electrical potential energy of 70-100 mV from the thin wall between the endolymph fluid in the cochlear duct and the perilymph has been reported.…”