Jonathan Winfield Jonathan.Winfield@uwe.ac.uk
Acting Associate Head of Department in Electronics & Robotics
The power of glove: Soft microbial fuel cell for low-power electronics
Winfield, Jonathan; Chambers, Lily D.; Stinchcombe, Andrew; Rossiter, Jonathan; Ieropoulos, Ioannis
Authors
Lily D. Chambers
Andrew Stinchcombe
Jonathan Rossiter
Yannis Ieropoulos Ioannis2.Ieropoulos@uwe.ac.uk
Professor in Bioenergy & Director of B-B
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.© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Citation
Winfield, J., Chambers, L. D., Stinchcombe, A., Rossiter, J., & Ieropoulos, I. (2014). The power of glove: Soft microbial fuel cell for low-power electronics. Journal of Power Sources, 249, 327-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.10.096
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Oct 22, 2013 |
Online Publication Date | Oct 30, 2013 |
Publication Date | Mar 1, 2014 |
Deposit Date | Feb 11, 2015 |
Journal | Journal of Power Sources |
Print ISSN | 0378-7753 |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 249 |
Pages | 327-332 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.10.096 |
Keywords | microbial fuel cell, natural rubber, power management system, urine, conductive latex, energy harvesting |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/820654 |
Publisher URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.10.096 |
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