Title :
A biological solar panel
Author :
Lee, H. ; Choi, S.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., State Univ. of New York-Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, USA
Abstract :
We report a prototype scalable and stackable biological solar panel by installing miniature biological solar cells in an array format. Nine small-scale biological solar cells were integrated in a panel along with a common feed microfluidic channel. The biological solar panel continuously generated electricity from microbial photosynthetic and respiratory activities under day-night cycles. Requiring only sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to operate, the biological solar panel offers advantages over potentially competing sustainable power sources such as microbial fuel cell stacks or photovoltaic panels because the photosynthetic microorganisms used here a) do not require an organic fuel, and b) are capable of producing power both during the day and at night.
Keywords :
carbon compounds; cellular biophysics; microbial fuel cells; microfluidics; microorganisms; photosynthesis; solar cell arrays; CO2; array format; biological solar panel; carbon dioxide; common feed microfluidic channel; day-night cycles; microbial fuel cell stacks; microbial photosynthetic activity; miniature biological solar cells; photosynthetic microorganisms; photovoltaic panels; respiratory activity; small-scale biological solar cells; sustainable power sources; Anodes; Fuel cells; Microfluidics; Microorganisms; Photovoltaic cells; Solar panels; Photosynthetic microbial fuel cells; biological solar panel; microbial photosynthesis; microbial respiration; sustainable power generation;
Conference_Titel :
Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (TRANSDUCERS), 2015 Transducers - 2015 18th International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Anchorage, AK
DOI :
10.1109/TRANSDUCERS.2015.7181327