LONDON —
British scientists on Tuesday reported they had harnessed the power of urine
and were able to charge a mobile phone with enough electricity to send texts
and surf the Internet.
Researchers
from the University of Bristol and Bristol Robotics Laboratory in south west
England said they had created a fuel cell that uses bacteria to break down
urine to generate electricity, in a study published in the Royal Society of
Chemistry journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.
"No
one has harnessed power from urine to do this so it's an exciting
discovery," said engineer Ioannis Ieropoulos.
"The
beauty of this fuel source is that we are not relying on the erratic nature of
the wind or the sun; we are actually reusing waste to create energy.
"One
product that we can be sure of an unending supply is our own urine," he
added.
The team
grew bacteria on carbon fibre anodes and placed them inside ceramic cylinders.
The
bacteria broke down chemicals in urine passed through the cylinders, building
up a small amount of electrical charge which was stored on a capacitor.
Ieropoulos
hoped that the cell, which is currently the size of a car battery, could be
developed for many applications.
"Our
aim is to have something that can be carried around easily," he explained.
"So
far the microbial fuel power stack (MFC) that we have developed generates
enough power to enable SMS messaging, web browsing and to make a brief phone
call.
"The
concept has been tested and it works - it's now for us to develop and refine
the process so that we can develop MFCs to fully charge a battery."
They hope
the technology will eventually be used to power domestic devices.
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