MICROFLUIDIC MICROBACTERIAL FUEL CELL CHIPS AND RELATED OPTIMIZATION METHODS

摘要

Benthic microbial biofuel cells (BMFCs) are a potential non-toxic and renewable source of underwater power. BMFCs function by coupling an anaerobic anode to an oxygenated cathode. However, current in-situ BMFCs on average produce less than 1 W of power. Potential causes are internal ohmic resistance and low capture efficiency of the bacteria-generated charge due to macroscopic average distances between bacteria and electrodes.;A microfluidic BMFC chip is enclosed to study those potential causes. The chip is built using elastomer microfluidics to provide biologically-inert microfluidic confinement of the bacteria, forcing them to be no further away than the height of the containment microchamber (‥90 μm) from the microelectrode matrix built on the glass substrate of the chip. The matrix captures the charge without location bias (due to its H-architecture) and conducts it to the outside circuit. The microfluidic chip system can be used as an evaluation station to optimize biological parameters, geometry, and electrode scaling towards increased power. That would lead to the development of an optimized power unit that can then be arrayed to build renewable power stations in maritime environments.