Photoelectrode, photovoltaic and photosynthetic microbial fuel cells

Abstract

This review examines the combination of photoelectric cells (PEC) and microbial fuel cells (MFC), including photosynthetic MFCs. It was found in a number of investigations that photoanodes and photocathodes can be well combined with electrogenic and photo-electrogenic microbes. The progress in this field originates from the idea that MFCs using light to power converting electrodes generate more power than with the dark reaction in an MFC alone or by solar power in a PEC. There are a multitude of possible designs for establishing Photo-MFCs. It is noteworthy that in addition to electric power, also hydrogen, methane and other solar-bioelectrofuels are producible using hybrid MFC-PEC type reactors, which are assembled from artificial and native photosensitive electrodes and electrogenic microbes.