Abstract
Microbial fuels cells (MFCs) are bio-electrochemical transducers that generate energy from the metabolism of electro-active microorganisms. The organism Physarum polycephalum is a species of slime mould, which has demonstrated many novel and interesting properties in the field of unconventional computation, such as route mapping between nutrient sources, maze solving and nutrient balancing. It is a motile, photosensitive and oxygen-consuming organism, and is known to be symbiotic with some, and antagonistic with other, microbial species. In the context of artificial life, the slime mould would provide a biological mechanism (along with the microbial community) for controlling the performance and behaviour of artificial systems. In the following experiments it was found that Physarum did not generate significant amounts of power when inoculated in the anode. However, when Physarum was introduced in the cathode of MFCs, a statistically significant difference in power output was observed.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alim, K., Amselem, G., Peaudecerf, F., Brenner, M.P., Pringle, A.: Random network peristalsis in physarum polycephalum organizes fluid flows across an individual. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 110(33), 13306–13311 (2013)
Andrew, A.: On attraction of slime mould physarum polycephalum to plants with sedative properties. Nat. Proc. 10 (2011)
Ching, L., Adams, L.A., Chin, K-J., Nevin, K.P., Methe, B.A., Webster, J., Sharma, M.L., Lovley, D.R.: Adaptation to disruption of the electron transfer pathway for fe (iii) reduction in geobacter sulfurreducens. J. Bacteriol. 187(17), 5918–5926 (2005)
Coursolle, D., Baron, D.B., Bond, D.R., Gralnick, J.A.: The mtr respiratory pathway is essential for reducing flavins and electrodes in shewanella oneidensis. J. Bacteriol. 192(2), 467–474 (2010)
Degrenne, N., Buret, F., Allard, B., Bevilacqua, P.: Electrical energy generation from a large number of microbial fuel cells operating at maximum power point electrical load. J. Power Sources 205, 188–193 (2012)
DeLacyCostello, B., Adamatzky, A.I.: Assessing the chemotaxis behavior of physarum polycephalum to a range of simple volatile organic chemicals. Communicative Integr. Biol. 6(5), e25030 (2013)
Dussutour, A., Latty, T., Beekman, M., Simpson, S.J.: Amoeboid organism solves complex nutritional challenges. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 107(10), 4607–4611 (2010)
Ieropoulos, I., Greenman, J., Lewis, D., Knoop, O.: Energy production and sanitation improvement using microbial fuel cells. J. Water Sanitation Hygiene Dev. (2013)
Ieropoulos, I., Greenman, J., Melhuish, C., Horsfield, I.: Ecobot-III-a robot with guts. In: ALIFE, pp. 733–740 (2010)
Ieropoulos, I.A., Ledezma, P., Stinchcombe, A., Papaharalabos, G., Melhuish, C., Greenman, J.: Waste to real energy: the first mfc powered mobile phone. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 15(37), 15312–15316 (2013)
Ieropoulos, I.: Urinetricity: electricity from urine (2014). http://www.gatesfoundation.org/what-we-do/global-development/reinvent-the-toilet-challenge
Ioannis, I., Chris, M., John, G., Ian, H.: Ecobot-II: an artificial agent with a natural metabolism. J. Adv. Rob. Syst. 2(4), 295–300 (2005)
Joo, H., Hyun, M.S., Chang, I.S., Kim, B.H. et al.: A microbial fuel cell type lactate biosensor using a metal-reducing bacterium, shewanella putrefaciens. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 9(3), 365–367 (1999)
Liu, H., Ramnarayanan, R., Logan, B.E.: Production of electricity during wastewater treatment using a single chamber microbial fuel cell. Env. Sci. Technol. 38(7), 2281–2285 (2004)
Potter, M.C.: Electrical effects accompanying the decomposition of organic compounds. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. Ser. B Containing Pap. Biol. Character, pp. 260–276 (1911)
Rozendal, R.A., Sleutels, T.H.J.A., Hamelers, H.V.M., Buisman, C.J.N.: Effect of the type of ion exchange membrane on performance, ion transport, and ph in biocatalyzed electrolysis of wastewater. Water Sci. Technol. 57(11), 1757–1762 (2008)
SangEun, Oh., Bruce, E.L.: Hydrogen and electricity production from a food processing wastewater using fermentation and microbial fuel cell technologies. Water Res. 39(19), 4673–4682 (2005)
Taylor, B., Adamatzky, A., Greenman, J., Ieropoulos, I.: Physarum polycephalum: towards a biological controller. Biosystems 127, 42–46 (2015)
Tront, J.M., Fortner, J.D., Plötze, M., Hughes, J.B., Puzrin, A.M.: Microbial fuel cell biosensor for in situ assessment of microbial activity. Biosens. Bioelectron. 24(4), 586–590 (2008)
Ueda, T., Mori, Y., Nakagaki, T., Kobatake, Y.: Action spectra for superoxide generation and uv and visible light photoavoidance in plasmodia of physarum polycephalum. Photochem. Photobiol. 48(5), 705–709 (1988)
Winfield, J., Greenman, J., Huson, D., Ieropoulos, I.: Comparing terracotta and earthenware for multiple functionalities in microbial fuel cells. Bioprocess Biosyst. Eng. 36(12), 1913–1921 (2013)
Acknowledgments
Authors would like to thank the European Commission for funding this work under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) “Physarum Chip: Growing Computers from Slime Mould”. Project reference 316366.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Taylor, B., Adamatzky, A., Greenman, J., Ieropoulos, I. (2016). Slime Mould Controller for Microbial Fuel Cells. In: Adamatzky, A. (eds) Advances in Physarum Machines. Emergence, Complexity and Computation, vol 21. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26662-6_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26662-6_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-26661-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-26662-6
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)