Phys.org September 30, 2022
Researchers in China fabricated a bio-solar cell consisting of a four-species microbial community by mimicking the ecological structure of marine microbial ecosystems. The four-species microbial community was assembled into a spatial-temporally compacted cell using conductive hydrogel as a sediment-like anaerobic matrix, forming a miniaturized bionic ocean-battery. The battery directly converts light into electricity with a maximum power of 380 μW. It stably operated for over one month. They demonstrated such ecological structure consisting of primary producer, primary degrader, and ultimate consumers is essential for achieving high power density and stability. According to the researchers the photoelectric conversion function of marine microbial ecosystems in the bionic battery overcomes the sluggish and network-like electron transfer, showing the biotechnological potential of synthetic microbial ecology…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
The structure comparison of the marine microbial ecosystems and the miniaturized bionic ocean-battery… Credit: Nature Communications volume 13, Article number: 5608 (2022)