Mud bath? No, mud good. And just be glad we landed on this joke and not one about aircraft manufacturer Fokker and mud. Apparently you can get electricity from mud. In fact, this has been possible for some time, but scientists have now improved this process slightly. Will you soon hang the plug of your EV in the mud? Unfortunately not for the time being, but that does not make the research any less interesting.
According to the scientists, more and more small devices are being added to the world. “If we imagine a future with trillions of these devices, we can't build them all from lithium, heavy metals and toxins that are dangerous to the environment. We need to find alternatives that can supply low amounts of energy,” says one of the scientists.
The current comes from microbes in the soil
That's why the American ones scientists from Northwestern University going to look at Soil Microbial Fuel Cells (SMFC). Their invention is as big as a book and you can easily stick it in the mud. The SMFC extracts energy from microbes that, according to the researchers, 'already live everywhere in the soil'. Apparently these microorganisms release electrons, which allows energy to be generated.
The idea of a Microbial Fuel Cell has been around since 1911. Until now, a mud power generator alone has never been very reliable. That's why the scientists started looking at the geometry of the device. Due to the new shape, the device continues to provide power even if, for example, the humidity of the ground changes significantly.
Charging your electric car is not going to work for the time being. The researchers are mainly thinking of applications for sensors used in agriculture, for example. Or maybe weather stations. The SMFC generated 68 percent more energy than the sensors needed. Who knows, maybe this invention will spark a mud race to see who can charge an EV with mud first…
#Scientists #extract #electricity #mud
