Hybrid Device Turning Point for Clean-Water Industry

A new hybrid device could provide sustainable energy while improving wastewater treatment. Researchers at the University of California – Santa Cruz have developed a solar-microbial device that combines a microbial fuel cell and a type of solar cell called a photoelectrochemical cell, which in essence makes the device self-sufficient.Yat Li, associate professor of chemistry at UCSC, led the research team. “The only energy sources are wastewater and sunlight,” she said in a press release.When fed with wastewater and illuminated with a solar simulator, the PEC-MFC device produced hydrogen gas at an average rate of .05 cubic meters per day. Simultaneously,