Water evaporation–induced electricity with <i>Geobacter sulfurreducens</i> biofilms
Qichang Hu, YongJi MA, Guoping Ren, Bintian Zhang, Shungui Zhou
Abstract
Water evaporation–induced electricity generators (WEGs) have recently attracted extensive research attention as an emerging renewable energy–harvesting technology that harvests electricity directly from water evaporation. However, the low power output, limited available material, complicated fabrication process, and extremely high cost have restricted wide applications of this technology. Here, a facile and efficient WEG prototype based on Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilm was demonstrated. The device can generate continuous electric power with a maximum output power density of ~685.12 μW/cm 2 , which is two orders of magnitude higher than that of previously reported analogous devices. The superior performance of the device is attributed to the intrinsic properties of the G. sulfurreducens biofilm, including its hydrophilicity, porous structure, conductivity, etc. This study not only presents the unprecedented evaporating potential effect of G. sulfurreducens biofilms but also paves the way for developing hydrovoltaic technology with biomaterials.