Miniature microbial fuel cells integrated with triggered power management systems to power wastewater sensors in an uninterrupted mode

Abstract

Uninterrupted energy harvest is critical for self-sustained wastewater monitoring in order to achieve efficient and resilient operation of decentralized onsite wastewater treatment facilities. To address this long-standing challenge, an integrated power entity consisting of a miniature microbial fuel cell (volume: 1.5 mL) and a triggered power management system was developed in this study to power the potentiometric millimeter-sized solid-state water sensors for real-time in situ monitoring and uninterrupted transmission of sensor readings (indicating ammonium concentration) under both ammonium shock and toxic shock in wastewater. Specifically, a data trigger including two capacitors, an operation amplifier and a low-power comparator is equipped in the power management system as a switch for turning on power discharge for data transmission once the ammonium shock is captured by the potentiometric sensors, enabling a sufficient recharge duration to store the power needed for high frequency data transmission (16.23 times/min) required under shocks. Furthermore, this power-sensor entity possesses a unique dual-screening capability of capturing the ammonium and toxic shocks, providing an early warning for swift decision making, reducing ~17% of ammonium discharge and saving ~42% of energy consumption in decentralized onsite wastewater treatment facilities.