SIMPLIFIED: "Recent Applications, Challenges, and Future Prospects of Microbial Fuel Cells: A Review"

Link to article: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12065106/ 

Note: The image above was taken from the original article.

I have simplified articles that talk about microbial fuel cells before on this website. I have covered what they are/how they work, in addition to current research going on to improve microbial fuel cells. If you have not read those yet, I highly recommend that you do so first so that you understand the context of this simplified article. The article linked above specifically talks about the limitations and challenges of microbial fuel cells that prevent this sustainable energy technology from being practical and applicable to everyday life. 

The main issue is that microbial fuel cells cannot produce the amount of power that is sufficient for practicality, including powering cell phones and computers. A lot of research that involves constructing microbial fuel cells discovers that these cells produce very low voltage and power; these cells produce around 0.7 volts. Additionally, the power output from microbial fuel cells and scale do not have a linear relationship, meaning increasing the number of microbial fuel cells does not necessarily increase the power output.

Another reason why microbial fuel cells are currently impractical is due to their high cost. Considering it costs anywhere from ten dollars to over a hundred dollars to fabricate just one microbial fuel cell, it just is not worth it to spend that much money for technology that cannot produce a lot of power. Truthfully, other technologies produce far more usable power than microbial fuel cells do, and these other technologies happen to be more cost-effective. Ultimately, the way microbial fuel cells work is very fascinating, but there is still a lot of research to be conducted before they can be considered applicable to everyday life.