Fuel cell basics: types http://www.fuelcells.org/basics/types.html This page provides an overview of the types of fuel cells currently in use. Microbial fuel cells are one of the many types surveyed here. Fuel cells publications http://www.microbialfuelcell.org/www/index.php/ component/option,com_jombib/Itemid,36/ This page provides an up-to-date list of peerreviewed scientific papers pertainin...

The current polymer-exchange membrane fuel cell technology cannot directly use biomass as fuel. Here we present a solar-induced hybrid fuel cell that is directly powered with natural polymeric biomasses, such as starch, cellulose, lignin, and even switchgrass and wood powders. The fuel cell uses polyoxometalates as the photocatalyst and charge carrier to generate electricity at low temperature....

Pairs of platinum mesh or graphite fiber-based electrodes, one embedded in marine sediment (anode), the other in proximal seawater (cathode), have been used to harvest low-level power from natural, microbe established, voltage gradients at marine sediment-seawater interfaces in laboratory aquaria. The sustained power harvested thus far has been on the order of 0.01 W/m2 of electrode geometric a...

Five rigid graphite plates were embedded in evenly divided sections of sediment, ranging from 2 cm (A1) to 10 cm (A5) below the top sediment layer. The maximum power and current of the MFCs increased in depth order; however, despite the increase in the internal resistance, the power and current density of the A5 MFC were 2.2 and 3.5 times higher, respectively, than those of the A1 MFC. In addit...

We report a methodology for enhancing the mass transfer at the anode electrode of sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs), by employing a fabric baffle to create a separate water-layer for installing the anode electrode in sediment. The maximum power in an SMFC with the anode installed in the separate water-layer (SMFC-wFB) was improved by factor of 6.6 compared to an SMFC having the anode embedd...

Soil microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) are expected as an application to produce sustainable energy. Here, we focused on soil ecosystems, specifically the earthworms which are known to improve soil-fertility by degrading fallen leaves or plant litter. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of earthworm on power generation of the SMFC. The maximum power density and the internal res...

Biofilms of natural anaerobic microbial consortia externally grown on Gas Diffusion Electrodes (GDL) in a bioreactor, were investigated within a MembraneElectrode-Assembly with respect to lifetime and electricity production upon variation of biodegradable materials with an oxygen demand of 1000mg/l as simulated waste water. A remarkable differentiation and plasticity of the films is observed, t...

In the past 10-15 years, the microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology has captured the attention of the scientific community for the possibility of transforming organic waste directly into electricity through microbially catalyzed anodic, and microbial/enzymatic/abiotic cathodic electrochemical reactions. In this review, several aspects of the technology are considered. Firstly, a brief history of ...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a completely new long term, affordable, accessible and ecofriendly approach to waste water treatment with production of sustainable energy. The power generation efficiency in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is based on bioreactors, which may represent a completely new approach to wastewater treatment. In our experimental test we found that it is possible to gen...