Efficient Energy Harvesting for Microbial Fuel Cell dedicated to Wireless Sensor Network

Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is novel technology for harvesting a fully sustainable zero emissions bioenergy that, by means of dedicated electronic circuits, suitably can be used for the proper functioning of a single Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) node. MFC is a bioreactor that transforms energy stored in chemical bonds of organic compounds into electrical energy. Low-power electronic devices allow now the design of electronic systems characterized by very low energy consumption. Accordingly, this allows the use of power sources based on energy harvesting techniques that involve clean renewable sources as MFC The first section of the paper introduces technological characteristics of the cell. The second one briefly examines the gap between electrical supplying of the cell and the energy requirements of WSN nodes. The design requires the usage of a step-up DC/DC converter, so the last part of the paper deals with the problems that occur when you want realize a system including a single MFC reactor for powering a single WSN node.