Design and Implementation of Novel Plant-Based Hybrid Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) Systems with Dry and Wet Configurations

Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) are a promising renewable and sustainable energy solution for low-power field electronic devices, but remain in the research phase mainly due to low power output efficiency. Based on the author’s previous studies, this research focused on the development of a proposed novel plant-based hybrid MFC, with two different configurations (dry and wet). Additionally, three main factors of the MFC systems were studied: the effect of plants through rhizodeposition and photosynthetic efficiency, the impact of soil physiochemical and biological characteristics, and the configuration design of an efficient MFC. All hybrid MFC systems were carefully constructed using three types of soils (potting soil, yard soil, and river soil), six plants (Bonnie Curly Spider, Peace Lily, Lemongrass, Tomato Plant, Basil, and Lettuce), and three electrode types (zinc mesh, copper spiral, and graphite felt). Power density from each system was calculated as a function of days during growth and was based on the experimental measurement of the open voltage of every setup. Statistical t-tests were applied for data analysis. The results indicated that adding water to the MFC systems increased power output and decreased internal resistance. T-test analyses showed that the differences between wet and dry systems were statistically significant, with the wet system reducing internal resistance by up to 2 times and increasing power density by up to 3 times. Furthermore, the hybrid systems displayed significant advantages over their S-MFC and P-MFC counterparts, especially in sustained power output and lowered internal resistance, and reached a maximum power density of 0.28 W m
^-2
, suggesting that future implementation of this technology in a scaled-up setting is more feasible. Therefore, it is suggested that plant-based hybrid MFC systems will be the future direction of S-MFC and P-MFC technology.