Scientists have found a way to improve the efficiency of microbial batteries by feeding them silver
Microbial fuel cells are one promising technology that is developing the ability to electricity generation, but so far all laboratory experiments have shown extremely low efficiency.
But now a scientific group from the University of California (Los Angeles, USA) has found a rather original solution to how to squeeze more energy out of bacteria. To do this, they began to feed them silver. You will learn about this unusual experiment and its results from the material.
Bacteria and silver
As you know, some types of bacteria in the course of their vital activity are quite capable of producing electrons. These microbes are used in microbial fuel cells to generate electricity. They are grown in the form of films on electrodes, while feeding them various organic substances.
For example, such unusual batteries would be great for wastewater treatment plants, not only helping clean up, but also generating additional electricity. But for this it was necessary to improve the efficiency of such batteries.
So engineers in the course of their next experiment, looking for ways to increase the efficiency of the generated energy, we decided to start experiments with bacteria called Shewanella oneidensis.
It is one of the promising microbes for fuel cells and thrives in low oxygen environments. The efficiency of using these bacteria was limited by the fact that electrons pass through their membranes rather difficult.
In order to solve this problem, scientists decided to initially grow a bacterium on a graphene oxide electrode containing silver ions.
It turned out that bacteria in the course of their life transform these ions into nanoparticles, into further embedding them into their cells, which greatly facilitates the passage of a larger number of electrons through membranes.
Further tests showed that bacteria modified in this way were able to transfer up to 81% of the electrons they produced to the electrode. All this provided about 0.66 milliwatts of energy per square centimeter. According to the authors of the study, this is the highest rate of all currently known microbial fuel cells.
Of course, microbial batteries are still very far from commercial use, but this work of scientists can to bring closer the moment when, along with other batteries, they will be actively exploited microbial batteries.
Scientists have shared the results of the work already done on the pages of Science magazine.
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