Self-Sustaining Soil Electrical Conductance Measurement Using a DC–DC Power Converter

Essential factors that affect bioelectricity generation by Rhodopseudomonas palustris strain PS3 in paddy soil microbial fuel cells

“…A soil‐based MFC used in this study consisted of four electric generating units (Figure 1A). Carbon (C) and zinc (Zn) were selected as electrodes for their high potential difference (~1 V) in redox reactions as described in our previous study, which would allow the electronic circuits to be easily driven 29,36 . Initially, the apparatus was operated without microbial inoculation under either open‐lid (unsealed) or sealed chamber conditions, and the electricity generation efficacies were evaluated.…”

“…Carbon (C) and zinc (Zn) were selected as electrodes for their high potential difference (1 V) in redox reactions as described in our previous study, which would allow the electronic circuits to be easily driven. 29,36 Initially, the apparatus was oper- Figure 1B shows the images of the respective C/Zn electrodes under the sealed and unsealed chamber conditions. Both the sealed and unsealed zinc electrodes showed corrosion on the surface, and the latter appeared more yellowish-brown than the former, indicating zinc oxidation during the intensive process.…”

“…CMOS technology was applied to implement the DC/DC converter on a silicon chip. 36 The components of this power management integrated circuit (IC) included a digitally controlled oscillator, an on-chip resistor-capacitor (RC) oscillator and a time-to-digital converter ( Figure 8A and Figure S3). This chip was also installed with a proposed adaptive conversion-ratio charge pump and a maximal power point tracking (MPPT) controller.…”

“…They are low cost and provide a small form factor, low energy consumption, high power conversion efficiency, and quick operation among components 30,34,35 . In a previous study, we applied CMOS technology with a power management IC to develop a high‐efficiency DC/DC converter for harvesting increased electrical power from a soil‐based MFC equipped with carbon‐zinc (C‐Zn) electrodes 36 …”

“…30,34,35 In a previous study, we applied CMOS technology with a power management IC to develop a high-efficiency DC/DC converter for harvesting increased electrical power from a soil-based MFC equipped with carbon-zinc (C-Zn) electrodes. 36 In this study, we inoculated the plant-associated phototrophic bacterium R. palustris strain PS3 into a soilbased MFC to generate electricity. We evaluated the performance of this soil-based MFC and elucidated the essential factors that contributed to electricity generation.…”