Plant/soil-microbial fuel cell operation effects in the biological activity of bioelectrochemical systems

ABSTRACT

Plant and soil microbial fuel cells (PMFCs and SMFCs, respectively) are bioelectrochemical systems that produce energy using microorganisms as catalysts. This energy can be harvested; however, its impact on biological activity has seldom been explored. To reveal the main characteristics of this impact, we monitored four experimental designs for 20 days under open-sky conditions. The effect of PMFC/SMFC start-up on metabolism was evaluated by photosynthesis of Codiaeum variegatum and heterotrophic soil respiration to determine the short-term effects. To compare the results, a normalized parameter of power density, which considered the PMFC/SMFC configurations, solar irradiance, and soil temperature, was introduced. The highest energy was obtained for the PMFC configuration. The energy harvesting stimulated the photosynthetic rate of C. variegatum up to two times with respect to its normal values, while the heterotrophic soil respiration decreased 30%. Thus, in the PMFC and SMFC start-up operations, the increase in soil temperature due to energy harvesting suggests that soil temperature is the most relevant parameter influencing plant metabolism and energy generation. These results open a new pathway for understanding the bioregulation of plants/soil when subjected to energy harvesting.

KEYWORDS:

• Plant microbial fuel cells
• soil microbial fuel cell
• Codiaeum variegatum photosynthesis
• heterotrophic soil respiration
• energy harvesting

Acknowledgments

M.V.H. acknowledges funding for the following projects: SEP-CONACYT 177842. O.G.P. is grateful for financial support from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científíca y Tecnológica (ANPCyT), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), and Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL) of Argentina.

Credit authorship contribution statement

Formal analysis, writing - original draft: M. Valdez-Hernández and E. Osorio de la Rosa. Plant and soil parameter measurements: M. Valdez-Hernández. Theoretical aspects: L. N. Acquaroli, O. González-Pérez, and E. Osorio de la Rosa. Conceptualization and experimental design implementation: J. Vázquez-Castillo, J. C. Heredia-Lozano, A. Castillo-Atoche, and E. Osorio de la Rosa. Writing - review and editing: L. Sosa-Vargas, M. Valdez-Hernández, L. N. Acquaroli, and E. Osorio de la Rosa.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the CONACYT [177842].

Notes on contributors

Mirna Valdez-Hernández

Mirna Valdez Hernández is a researcher curator at the Herbarium ECOSUR Chetumal. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucátan A.C. in Mexico. Her research interests include plant ecophysiology, especially the response of phenology and water relations to environmental variability in different representative plant species of the Yucatan Peninsula, and plant ecology, with emphasis on the study of secondary succession.

Leandro N. Acquaroli

Leandro N. Acquaroli is a research associate at the University of Montreal. His work focuses on advanced (nano)materials for sensors, optoelectronics, and sustainable energy applications. He obtained his Ph.D. in chemical technology, working in the development of photonic sensors using nanoporous semiconductors. He held several postdoctoral positions at the Instituto de Física del Litoral (Argentina), the University of South Australia (Australia), Colorado State University (United States), and Polytechnique Montréal (Canada). Currently, he is undertaking research on energy-harvesting systems for applications in sensor nodes for smart cities.

Javier Vázquez-Castillo

Javier Vázquez-Castillo received his Ph.D. (2014) and M.Sc. (2002) degrees in electrical engineering from CINVESTAV Guadalajara, Mexico and a B.S. in electronic engineering from Instituto Tecnológico de Merida, Mexico. He is a professor at the University of Quintana Roo. His research work is in applications of signal processing, IoT applications, and hardware design.

Omar González-Pérez

Omar González-Pérez is an associate researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Argentina. Mr. González Pérez conducts theoretical and experimental research in the Applied Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering Programme (PRELINE) at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering of the National University of Litoral (UNL). His areas of interest include the design, start-up, and implementation of electrochemical reactors for the treatment of pollutant effluents and the production of value-added compounds. His current research topics correspond to the treatment of process streams in two-phase systems for the production of particulate phases in reactors with modified hydrodynamic conditions.

Julio C. Heredia-Lozano

Julio C. Heredia-Lozano received his B.S. (2016) and M.Sc. (2020) degrees in mechatronics engineering from Chetumal University of Technology, Mexico. His research interests include the study of ultralow-power electronic devices and energy harvesting methods. He received distinguished alumni awards (2014 and 2016) from the Chetumal University of Technology.

Alejandro Castillo-Atoche

Alejandro Castillo-Atoche (M’02–SM’19) received his Ph.D. (2010) and M.Sc. (2002) degrees in electrical engineering from CINVESTAV Guadalajara, Mexico. Currently, he is a professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán working on intelligent signal processing for remote sensing imagery, real-time and embedded systems, and Internet of Things applications.

Lydia Sosa-Vargas

Lydia Sosa-Vargas has been a CNRS researcher at the Institut Parisien de Chimie Moléculaire, Sorbonne Université since 2017. Originally from Mexico, she obtained her Ph.D. from the University of East Anglia in the UK. She carried out her first postdoctoral position in Japan at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. In 2015, she joined the Polymer Chemistry team at Sorbonne University for her second postdoc before being recruited by the CNRS as a tenured researcher. Her research interests involve the molecular design and synthesis of pi-conjugated materials for applications in organic electronic and photonic devices, and supramolecular self-assembly at the nanoscale level. Lydia is a member of the Subcommittee on Polymer Terminology (SPT) of the Polymer Division within the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). She is an awardee of the IUPAC’s 2020 Periodic Table of Young Chemists for 118 outstanding younger chemists.

Edith Osorio-de-la-Rosa

Edith Osorio de la Rosa received her B.S. degree in electronic engineering from BUAP in 2005. She completed her Ph.D. (2012) and M.Sc. (2008) degrees in the field of semiconductor devices from the ICUAP-BUAP, Puebla, Mexico. In 2013, she joined the Instituto de Física del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina. In 2015, she earned her second postdoc position in the Nanoelectronic and Photonic Systems Laboratory of the Department of Electronic and Electric Engineering at the University of Tarragona, Spain. Currently, she is a researcher on the Mexico National Council for Science and Technology - Quintana Roo University. Her current research interests include porous materials, renewable energy, and emerging technologies.