Passive feeding in paper-based microbial fuel cells

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are often constructed using materials such as plastic that can be hazardous to the environment. Building MFCs from paper is a sustainable option, making the fuel cells lightweight and easy to carry. Transported in the bottom of luggage until needed they could be used as backup power supplies in remote locations. Ideally, they would extract nutrients from the environment without extensive input from the operator, particularly if the user was injured. The current study looked at different paper MFC designs to observe whether they could produce useful power after simply being dropped onto liquid puddles containing organic matter. The results showed that both flat and 3D MFCs could generate current when dropped onto liquid without any need for physical feeding. The 3D tetrahedron MFCs generated power for over 2 weeks with the output sufficient for useful applications such as broadcasting via a transceiver