Journal
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Volume 15, Issue 6, Pages 2529-2536Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/d2ee00233g
Keywords
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Funding
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council studentship [BB/M011194/1]
- National Biofilms Innovation Centre [02POC19029]
- Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR)
- Natural Environment Research Council National Capability Science Facilities [NE/ R017050/1]
- Scottish Association for Marine Science internal research funds
- National Biofilms Innovation Centre [02POC19029] Funding Source: researchfish
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Sustainable and affordable energy sources are needed for the Internet of Things. The number of devices is increasing rapidly and battery reliance is not sustainable. Existing energy harvesters have environmental implications. This study proposes a bio-photovoltaic energy harvester system using photosynthetic microorganisms on an aluminium anode.
Sustainable, affordable and decentralised sources of electrical energy are required to power the network of electronic devices known as the Internet of Things. Power consumption for a single Internet of Things device is modest, ranging from mu W to mW, but the number of Internet of Things devices has already reached many billions and is expected to grow to one trillion by 2035, requiring a vast number of portable energy sources (e.g., a battery or an energy harvester). Batteries rely largely on expensive and unsustainable materials (e.g., rare earth elements) and their charge eventually runs out. Existing energy harvesters (e.g., solar, temperature, vibration) are longer lasting but may have adverse effects on the environment (e.g., hazardous materials are used in the production of photovoltaics). Here, we describe a bio-photovoltaic energy harvester system using photosynthetic microorganisms on an aluminium anode that can power an Arm Cortex M0+, a microprocessor widely used in Internet of Things applications. The proposed energy harvester has operated the Arm Cortex M0+ for over six months in a domestic environment under ambient light. It is comparable in size to an AA battery, and is built using common, durable, inexpensive and largely recyclable materials.
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