Extracting energy from bacteria
Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - 13:01
in Physics & Chemistry
Most of us wouldn't consider bacteria a promising energy source of the future. That would be shortsighted, says Leonard Tender, a microbial-electrochemist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., who believes that the focus of his research – electrode reactions catalyzed by microorganisms – may one day provide cheap, clean and abundant energy by converting the carbon dioxide in seawater to fuel and the organic matter in wastewater into electrical power.