ABSTRACT
In contrast to traditional chemical fuel cells, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) rely on biologically driven chemical reactions to produce electricity, the ultimate fuel source of which is biologically degradable organic matter. It was over a century ago that M.C. Potter first noted that the liberation of electrical energy can be tied to the microbial oxidation of organic compounds (Potter, 1911), but it has not been until recently that engineers have managed to harness this ability as an energy source. Harnessing this power has allowed the direct generation of electricity from an immense range of degradable organic waste that 3.8 to 3.9 billion years of evolutionary time has imbued bacteria with the ability to oxidize.
