Scuba diving device with battery ... fish feces

In recent decades, in the field of underwater exploration, diving equipment has provided a lot of valuable information to science. In fact, the sea is still hidden with countless things people need to know and diving equipment has helped a lot for this.

But the sea is so profoundly deep that the energy contained in the device is limited to not meet the sufficient time for discovery. Putting the device on the surface, the work is unfinished, but if you leave the device at the bottom of the ocean, it's too wasteful and expensive. Therefore, battery life is something that scientists always care about.

In fact, science has long wanted to find a sustainable source of energy to use for devices. And people think of the source of microorganisms, which is a rich source of materials in the environment. That's why MFC's biofuel cells are born.

MFC News Microbial Fuel Cell , arranged into two groups: mediated and non-mediated . The first MFCs that appeared in the early 20th century, in the first group, used intermediates as a chemical to transfer electrons from cell bacteria to the battery's anode.

This deep-sea submersible robot of the US Navy needs to be equipped with energy operated by MFC.

The MFC category two appeared in the 1970s, in this type of MFC, on the outer membrane of bacteria often has electrochemical activity proteins with redox features such as cytochrome that can transfer electrons directly into the anode.

In the 21st century, scientists turned to commercial MFC in wastewater, using microbial activity to convert chemical energy into electrical energy. These electrochemical cells are made using a bioanode or a biocathode.

Most MFCs contain a membrane to separate the compartments of the anode (where oxidation occurs) and cathode (where the reduction process occurs). Electrons generated during the redox process are transferred directly to the electrode. MFC works very well under moderate temperature conditions, between 20 ° C and 40 ° C and in neutral pH, about 7 .

Diagram works of a traditional MFC with bacteria, anode and cathode.

But note that MFC power lacks the stability required for long-term medical applications like pacemakers. And recently, US naval researchers have succeeded in developing a The battery has the ability to self-regenerate energy when exposed to . faeces of marine animals, namely fish.

It is a promising technology, but especially increasing battery life, this helps to increase the autonomy of diving robots.

For many years, the US Navy has studied everything and has now found a solution. MFC batteries can be powered directly from the ocean floor. MFC will convert the waste layer of marine organisms depositing into the ocean bottom into the energy supplied to the battery.

In this vast amount of waste, fish manure is the number one choice because it is an abundant resource that is never exhausted.