Summary
A plant‐associated phototrophic bacterium, R. palustris strain PS3, was inoculated into a soil‐based MFC to generate electricity. We evaluated the performance of this soil‐based microbial fuel cell (MFC) and elucidated the essential factors that contributed to power generation. PS3 showed the potential to enhance power generation, especially when the apparatus was operated in a sealed chamber with illumination. We deduced that the improved power performance was due to the enhanced electron transport through the living electrode that was grown as a PS3 biofilm via photoheterotrophic metabolism. In addition, we suggested that the interplay between phototrophic fixation of ambient CO2 and anaerobic oxidation of ferrous iron in soil was also involved in the increased power output. We implemented CMOS (complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor) technology with the soil‐based MFC to harvest energy in a more efficient and stable manner. The above system is expected to provide a potentially low‐cost and low‐energy system with a high power conversion efficiency for practical applications in the future.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations –citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.