The power of glove: Soft microbial fuel cell for low-power electronics

Winfield, Jonathan, Chambers, Lily D., Stinchcombe, Andrew, Rossiter, Jonathan and Ieropoulos, Ioannis (2014) The power of glove: Soft microbial fuel cell for low-power electronics. Journal of Power Sources, 249, 327-332. (doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.10.096).

Abstract

A novel, soft microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been constructed using the finger-piece of a standard laboratory natural rubber latex glove. The natural rubber serves as structural and proton exchange material whilst untreated carbon veil is used for the anode. A soft, conductive, synthetic latex cathode is developed that coats the outside of the glove. This inexpensive, lightweight reactor can without any external power supply, start up and energise a power management system (PMS), which steps-up the MFC output (0.06–0.17 V) to practical levels for operating electronic devices (>3 V). The MFC is able to operate for up to 4 days on just 2 mL of feedstock (synthetic tryptone yeast extract) without any cathode hydration. The MFC responds immediately to changes in fuel-type when the introduction of urine accelerates the cycling times (35 vs. 50 min for charge/discharge) of the MFC and PMS. Following starvation periods of up to 60 h at 0 mV the MFC is able to cold start the PMS simply with the addition of 2 mL fresh feedstock. These findings demonstrate that cheap MFCs can be developed as sole power sources and in conjunction with advancements in ultra-low power electronics, can practically operate small electrical devices.

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Contributors

Author: Ioannis Ieropoulos

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