A Terrestrial Microbial Fuel Cell Powered Wireless Sensor Network

摘要

Terrestrial Microbial Fuel Cells (TMFCs) can be inoculated and work using of soil, which overcomes the shortcomings of Aquatic Microbial Fuel Cells (AMFCs) and extends application areas of MFCs. Energy supply, as a primary influential factor determining the lifetime of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) nodes, remains an open challenge. In theory, sensor nodes powered by MFCs have an eternal life. However, low output voltage and power density of MFCs are two pronounced challenges for the application in WSNs. A Terrestrial microbial fuel cell (TMFC) reactor is proposed in the paper. The power generation performance of the proposed TMFC is tested. A single-hop WSN powered by a TMFC experimental setup was designed and experimented with. Results show that the TMFC can achieve enough power for the WSN node working periodically, which validates the feasibility of WSNs powering by TMFCs.