by Allison Kerley (Photo above of Hanyu Wang, first author of this paper at the University of California, Santa Cruz.)

Most hydrogen generating devices require an external addition of a 0.2 to 1.0 V electric potential in order to sustain the hydrogen generation. Wang et al. (2013) explored the feasibility of a self-powering photoelectrochemical-microbial fuel cell (PEC-MFC) hybrid device to generate hydrogen. The PEC-MFC was a combination of a photoelectrochemical fuel cell and a microbial fuel cell. The Hydrogen production of the device was tested when powered by a ferricyanide solution inoculated with a pure strain of Shewanellla oneidensis MR-1 and when powered by microorganisms found naturally occurring in the municipal wastewater. In both scenarios, given replenishments of fuel, the device produced enough voltage to be self-sustaining. However, when the device was powered by wastewater it produced both a lower current and a smaller hydrogen production than when powered by ferricyanide solution. Continue reading →