Arrays of Plant Microbial Fuel Cells for Implementing Self-Sustainable Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Plant–Microbial Fuel Cell (P–MFC) is a renewable power source which generates bioelectricity through the plant-microbe interrelationship at the rhizosphere region of a plant. As a step toward sustainable wireless sensing, PMFC can harness the metabolism of microorganism as a catalyst and use organic matter to generate electrical energy. However, these energy sources tend to produce low power outputs (mW), and the P–MFC energy capacity can be affected by perturbations. The P–MFC needs to be analyzed for an accurate integration in harvester circuits and wireless technologies, such as LPWAN, to develop sustainable wireless communication applications. In this study, a P–MFC array is implemented as a promising self-sustainable green energy communication technology for Internet of Things (IoT)-based wireless sensor network (WSN). The serial-parallel configuration of the Dypsis lutescens plant type is characterized and adapted with an energy harvester (EH) circuit which manages the energy from P–MFC. An energy capacity model is proposed to analyze the supercapacitor’s charge response and the recovery effect after each Long-Range (LoRa) transmission of the sensor node. The integration of a power management strategy is used to improve the sustainable operation in each sensor node. Experimental results show an open circuit voltage of 1.75 V, and a short current circuit of 5.6 mA for the serial-parallel configuration of the P–MFC array. The test-scenarios demonstrate sustainable operation of the LoRa-WSNs after one month with a daily generation capacity of 80 J, which is sufficient for the WSN’s node operation.

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1109/JSEN.2020.3019986

Journal

IEEE Sensors Journal

Year

2021