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.
