title: A micro-sized bio-solar cell for self-sustaining power generation.
abstract: Self-sustainable energy sources are essential for a wide array of wireless applications deployed in remote field locations. Due to their self-assembling and self-repairing properties, "biological solar (bio-solar) cells" are recently gaining attention for those applications. The bio-solar cell can continuously generate electricity from microbial photosynthetic and respiratory activities under day-night cycles. Despite the vast potential and promise of bio-solar cells, they, however, have not yet successfully been translated into commercial applications, as they possess persistent performance limitations and scale-up bottlenecks. Here, we report an entirely self-sustainable and scalable microliter-sized bio-solar cell with significant power enhancement by maximizing solar energy capture, bacterial attachment, and air bubble volume in well-controlled microchambers. The bio-solar cell has a ~300 μL single chamber defined by laser-machined poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) substrates and it uses an air cathode to allow freely available oxygen to act as an electron acceptor. We generated a maximum power density of 0.9 mW m(-2) through photosynthetic reactions of cyanobacteria, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, which is the highest power density among all micro-sized bio-solar cells.
authors.affiliation: Bioelectronics & Microsystems Laboratory, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, State University of New York-Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA. sechoi@binghamton.edu.
authors.forename: Hankeun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seokheun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources / Q000382:microbiology; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development; D004566:Electrodes; D055617:Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems / Q000295:instrumentation; D010788:Photosynthesis; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate / Q000737:chemistry; D012993:Solar Energy; D046939:Synechocystis / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate