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

The power of glove: Soft microbial fuel cell for low-power electronics
The power of glove: Soft microbial fuel cell for low-power electronics
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.
Microbial fuel cell, Natural rubber, Power management system, Urine, Conductive latex, Energy harvesting
0378-7753
327-332
Winfield, Jonathan
e81f4fad-1433-4c6a-9723-24a14f172896
Chambers, Lily D.
f695c679-ce94-47b8-aa2b-2cfcb5582fce
Stinchcombe, Andrew
f215f495-0b45-4233-9e5f-828fd6989e6b
Rossiter, Jonathan
64caa0df-19e0-40c8-ab69-7021de665c39
Ieropoulos, Ioannis
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
Winfield, Jonathan
e81f4fad-1433-4c6a-9723-24a14f172896
Chambers, Lily D.
f695c679-ce94-47b8-aa2b-2cfcb5582fce
Stinchcombe, Andrew
f215f495-0b45-4233-9e5f-828fd6989e6b
Rossiter, Jonathan
64caa0df-19e0-40c8-ab69-7021de665c39
Ieropoulos, Ioannis
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13

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).

Record type: Article

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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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 22 October 2013
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 October 2013
Published date: 1 March 2014
Keywords: Microbial fuel cell, Natural rubber, Power management system, Urine, Conductive latex, Energy harvesting

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 454602
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454602
ISSN: 0378-7753
PURE UUID: 2851d0e4-41b1-43ed-b2d0-06b8c62abaa8
ORCID for Ioannis Ieropoulos: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9641-5504

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 17 Feb 2022 17:32
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:10

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Contributors

Author: Jonathan Winfield
Author: Lily D. Chambers
Author: Andrew Stinchcombe
Author: Jonathan Rossiter

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