Hao Ren, S. Rangaswami, Hyung-Sool Lee, Junseok Chae
{"title":"A micro-scale microbial fule cell (MFC) having ultramicroelectrode (UME) anode","authors":"Hao Ren, S. Rangaswami, Hyung-Sool Lee, Junseok Chae","doi":"10.1109/MEMSYS.2013.6474381","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"We report a micro-scale microbial fuel cell (MFC), having an ultramicroelectrode (UME) as its anode, aiming for a miniaturized energy converter of carbon-neutral renewable energy. Micro-scale MFCs have been studied for many years, yet the power density of them is orders of magnitude lower than that of macro-scale counterparts. In order to address this limitation, this work utilizes a ring-shape UME, which aims to enhance the diffusion of ions at the vicinity of micro-organisms, forming their biofilm on the UME. Areal and volumetric power densities of 7.72 W/m2 and 3,658 W/m3 are obtained, respectively; both are the highest ever reported among all MFCs to date, regardless of their sizes. In addition to the power densities, coulombic efficiency (CE) of 70 % and energy efficiencies of 20 % are marked, which makes the micro-scale MFC an attractive alternative in existing energy conversion portfolio.","PeriodicalId":92162,"journal":{"name":"2013 IEEE 26th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS 2013) : Taipei, Taiwan, 20-24 January 2013. IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (26th : 2013 : Taipei, Taiwan)","volume":"86 1","pages":"869-872"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2013-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"4","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"2013 IEEE 26th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS 2013) : Taipei, Taiwan, 20-24 January 2013. IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (26th : 2013 : Taipei, Taiwan)","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MEMSYS.2013.6474381","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 4
Abstract
We report a micro-scale microbial fuel cell (MFC), having an ultramicroelectrode (UME) as its anode, aiming for a miniaturized energy converter of carbon-neutral renewable energy. Micro-scale MFCs have been studied for many years, yet the power density of them is orders of magnitude lower than that of macro-scale counterparts. In order to address this limitation, this work utilizes a ring-shape UME, which aims to enhance the diffusion of ions at the vicinity of micro-organisms, forming their biofilm on the UME. Areal and volumetric power densities of 7.72 W/m2 and 3,658 W/m3 are obtained, respectively; both are the highest ever reported among all MFCs to date, regardless of their sizes. In addition to the power densities, coulombic efficiency (CE) of 70 % and energy efficiencies of 20 % are marked, which makes the micro-scale MFC an attractive alternative in existing energy conversion portfolio.