Effect of Electrode Al-Cu-Zn as Electricity Production Using Microalgae Spirulina platensis in Biological Cell Photovoltaic (BPV) Reactor

Spirulina platensis has potential to produce electricity. Electricity is formed by photosynthesized of microalgae in chloroplast. In chloroplasts, contains protein molecules which useful as electron exchange lines from light cycle in the thylakoid towards the Calvin cycle in the stroma. Electrons flow connected to an electrochemical device, causing electrical energy. The electrical energy generated measured in unit’s voltage. Methods of producing electricity is known as Biological Cell Photovoltaic (BPV). Researches using cyanobacteria microorganisms have been done on previous research by examining the electrode material which capable of generating optimum electricity. Various anode been used such as aluminum, zinc and copper, the results that anode zinc capable of generating high voltage electricity worth 1217 mV. This result is optimized back to test variations of the electrode spacing and the results obtained at the time of the highest voltage within 2 cm worth of 1219 mV. Therefore, the voltage generated is still quite small, so additional chambers is connected in series using BPV 4 reactor chamber using an 820Ω resistor, producing an electrical voltage of 4100 mV. This potential is evidenced by comparing the operation of the BPV which uses microalgae culture medium and by only using sea water as a comparison. Keywords—Biological-Photovoltaic Cell, bioelectriciy, electrode spacing and variation, Spirulina platensis, Voltaic cell