A biobattery with built-in energy recovery

A biobattery capable of producing energy from ocean and lake sediments would be a wonderful invention! But for it to become a reality, scientists first have to figure out how to extract in real time a source of energy whose characteristics vary on a scale of one to ten depending on the environment. Leti has risen to this challenge with a new interface circuit that enables biobatteries to harvest tens of microwatts, potentially providing a continuous source of power for distributed sensors—temperature, salinity, oxygen, CO2—used to monitor aquatic ecosystems. The researchers are now working on the biobatteries’ long-term reliability, and plan to conduct tests in a lake near Grenoble.
 

 Contact: gael.pillonnet@cea.fr

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