Bacterial-Based Micro Fuel Cells

直接由生物有机体产生的微型电源将对所有维度的系统产生巨大影响，从纳米技术到微系统，再到宏观尺度的设备。该项目的动机来自于对“自然”能量循环的观察——来自太阳的光形式的能量有助于绿色植物将二氧化碳和水转化为葡萄糖的光合作用过程。动物以绿色植物作为葡萄糖支持的食物，在有氧呼吸过程中将葡萄糖和氧气转化为二氧化碳、水和三磷酸腺苷（ATP）。我们建议从这些能量转化过程中提取能量，通过构建人工燃料电池来与活细菌相互作用，用于工程应用，例如为纳米或微型设备提供动力。此外，由于这些过程实际上发生在细胞水平上，它们是我们将重点研究的纳米和微系统的完美电源。利用我们在MEMS制造方面的核心竞争力，以及在小范围内更有效的电极的高表面积体积比的优势，我们将这种基于细菌的微型燃料电池的目标设定为开发1)使用葡萄糖作为燃料的微机械微生物燃料电池（mMFC）和2)在细菌的帮助下将光转化为电能的微光合电化学电池（mPEC）。为了产生更广泛的影响，PI计划为加州大学伯克利分校的SUPERB（夏季本科工程研究项目）项目提供夏季项目。该项目针对有色人种学生、第一代大学生、教育弱势学生或历史上少数民族院校的学生。

Micro power supply sources generated directly from biological organisms will have great impact for systems of all dimensions, starting from nanotechnology, to microsystems, and to macro scale devices. The motivation of the project came from the observation of the energy cycle from "nature" - energy in the form of light coming from sun assists the photosynthesis process in green plants that convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose. Animals take green plant as the food for glucose support and in the aerobic respiration process, convert glucose and oxygen into carbon dioxide, water and ATP (adenosine triphospate). We propose to extract energy from these energy translation processes by building up artificial fuel cells to interact with living bacteria for engineering applications, such as to power nano or micro devices. Moreover, because these processes actually occur at the cellular level, they are perfect power sources for nano and micro systems that we will focus our efforts on. Leveraging from our core competencies in MEMS fabrication and the advantage of high surface area-to-volume ratio in the small scale for more effective electrodes, we set the goals of this bacteria-based micro fuel cells as to develop 1) micromachined microbial fuel cells (mMFC) that use glucose as the fuel and 2) micro photosynthesis electrochemical cells (mPEC) that convert light to electrical power with the assistance of bacteria. For broader impacts, PI plans to offer summer projects for the SUPERB (Summer Undergraduate Program in Engineering Research at Berkeley) program at UC-Berkeley. The program is targeted to students of color, first-generation college students, educationally disadvantaged students, or students from historical minority institutions.