2204 Dirt Powered Fuel Cell That Runs Forever

Link to the paper: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3631410
Don't forget to check out my companion channels TnT Omnibus here / @tntomnibus and TnT Talk Time found here / @tnttalktime

[@natecus4926]

My favorite way to spend a Sunday after noon is going down a random rabbit hole about something I never even knew existed before I got a notification about one of your videos

[@colleenforrest7936]

There's a lot of good stuff here. Enjoy,!😊

[@PplsChampion]

ahaha thats the perfect desc of watching this channel

[@nugrohosumanto6390]

Cheers fellow traveller. For me this is Monday morning. A great way to get me in the mood for working. His vids jumpstarts my brain on Mondays.

[@queenstreetsystems]

Robert is never boring, that's for sure !! I wish I was a millionaire, I'd fund him as he deserves to be funded

[@eaclarich]

This is the way to dirt cheap energy

[@tekknorat]

You sure, lol?

[@christortora2967]

@@tekknorat yes. If you have, say 10mV coming out of each, which can be stacked like an EV battery for instance, then it'll take 600 in series (probably) to make 12v. Current is another question, but capacitors yo.

[@szogun1987]

I'm surprised how YT is great at showing me this material. I'm building a company that addresses farmer's needs and this is something that I can use on my local market. Thank you a lot.

[@Zeero3846]

Microbial fuel cells almost reminds me of that Rick and Morty episode where Rick's car breaks down and it is revealed that his car's battery is literally a tiny world inhabited by tiny beings jumping on a pressure pad that produces electricity. They're literally converting their world into energy the energy required to jump up and down, which itself powers a car. Long story short, his car battery stopped working because they stopped needing to jump on their pads. So if your fuel cell stops working, either your microbes died in an unsustainable environment, or they found something more worthwhile to do.

[@captainoates7236]

We don't want our microbes developing self awareness or we might end up working for them.

[@bobb.6393]

I believe in dirt

[@andrewsackville-west1609]

Once you embrace the reality that dirt is everything and everything is dirt, life begins to make sense.

[@Kapoorwise]

*Making money is an action. Keeping money is a behavior, but "Growing money is wisdom" I just saw this quote🔥💯🥰*

[@Arianabennett759]

Awesome quote; I made the wisest decision when I put this quote into practice, I inve'sted with one of the best{Mrs Mary Margaret*}. Now I receive weekly returns😊. . .

[@OfficialSquibb]

Well I engage in a nice side hus'tle and the good thing is I do it with one one of the best (Mary Margaret) she's really good!

[@JasonMomoa-ni3jx]

Did someone just mention mrs Margaret!? Damn! You just made my day; what a coincidence.. I've worked with her for over 2years and I can tell how good she is

[@wandinugraha1321]

No doubts, this Mary Margaret must be an icon; how good is she and how safe is "profit making" with her.?

[@olivesdra]

She's a top notch for real, my colleagues at work kept talking about her, so I decided to take the test and work with her, she's put a smile on my face for the past few years of working with her🤭

[@chaorrottai]

Interestingly enough you can actually buy a microbial fuel cell kit that comes with a little LED that will blink. I also experimented with this as well but I did not realize that the mesh I bought which I thought was stainless steel from the dollar store was actually plastic coated and so I didn't get all of the amperage I should have got, however I was able to get a steady current flow of 10-20 microamps regardless. With a proper mesh you can actually get quite a lot more current out of this. What I'm somewhat interested in doing with this concept is laying down a layer of conductive mesh then covering that with topsoil then putting down another conductive mesh then covering that with a little bit more topsoil and then putting plants on top of it. Once the plants are on top of it and they just are surviving the plants actually create sugars and feed the bacteria in the soil and so you can actually just straight up like use the plants in the Sun as like a super indirect microbial solar powered fuel cell.

[@PhoenixDown99999]

Alternatively adding electricity to plant roots makes them grow better. If you take too many electrons away the plants might not grow as well.

[@shaunphillips6160]

This is my thoughts on the ancient civilisations..they were advanced enough to control nature for their needs

[@heckyes]

This channel is amazing. There's truly nothing else quite like it on KZbin. Always informative and highly topical to those wanting to believe in new or re-imagined ideas about making the world a better place.

[@MichaelCarouthGutenTag]

I saw that article earlier today and thought of your channel.

[@ThingsMadeOfOtherThings]

Every video of yours that I've watched sends me deep down a rabbit hole, but the truly astounding thing is that you produce these faster than I can watch them! That in itself is pretty mind-blowing. I wish a had a fraction of your energy and intelligence!

[@flyingsodwai1382]

I love your channel man! This has been around for over 100 years and it takes you doing a video for ME to know about it... THANKS!!

[@rulerofthelight]

The first thing that came to mind when you said the bacteria needed to be anaerobic was a methane reactor.

[@ryanjamesloyd6733]

That occurred to me as well. And biogas units are easy to make. It also seems like you might get better electricity production from the liquid rather than the dirt- better contact and such (i don't know, but that seems plausible)

[@jayanthafernando2534]

Thanks for bringing this up.

[@karinamauritia9466]

Excellent sir! You have my respect and , "Here's a feather. " no one has more knowledge and wisdom than Mother Earth. We have a dire need for more creative souls that care about humanity and its survival.

[@charlesvanneste2834]

Of course, the farmers could just use the technology I've been working on to send power thru the soil from a solar bank and operate all their sensors without batteries (the batteries sitting on the side of the field with the solar panels). I call it "Through the Soil Long Range Wireless Power transfer" - not the most clever of names I know, (my group recently published it in IEEE transactions on industrial electronics 😊).

[@shaunphillips6160]

I have a hypothesis similar to yours, and you might think the same, that the ancient civilisations used mother nature her very self to transmit information and energy..for example, using trees to act act as wireless transmitters of information and, like you say, the ground to transmit energy through soil and mycelium etc...that's why I believe there's not much evidence of manufactured parts from the ancient times as i beloved they were advanced enough to utilise and control nature for their uses.

[@Maxim.Teleguz]

Reversing ground to be input you get interesting results. Negative treat it as positive and ground as negative and you can light a light bulb.

[@good_vibes_20]

@@shaunphillips6160 I've seen that movie 🍿

[@ogi22]

@@shaunphillips6160 Ah yes, and they grow their furnitures on plants. No wait, it was in a book "The Star Diaries" by Stanisław Lem 😁

[@paomakes]

Ty Rob, been waiting for your take on this one🎉❤

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@TheWorldBelow360]

There is literally an electric potential everywhere! It would be great if our governance of corporate investiture “felt” the same, then carbon capture would be a cinch.

[@lagomorphia9]

Carbon wouldnt need to be captured if they allowed other technologies, but those arent profitable. They will never give up profit so those carbon taxes are just to control people and money grab.

[@darrennew8211]

I thought this was totally going to be the car that runs on water, but this actually is feasible.

[@valerigeorgiev5615]

Bravoo, Robert! Good idea!

[@jheo267]

Thank you for another educational video kind sir.

[@bigmouthstrikesagain4056]

Well if it gives the kids something to do... then why not

[@kennethkostyniuk9072]

Would you have a go at this in the future? I would love to see your results on this :-)

[@__WJK__]

Was about to ask the same exact Qs!

[@gta-6837]

Always enjoy the videos ❤

[@AT-os6nb]

pretty tune to start the show!

[@nizal9388]

Hello Robert, I love your show. Could you do a series on essential gadgets for survival ideally mechanical so no electricity required, no batteries. I'm thinking of displaced families on the move like in Palestine at the moment. Compass would be useful. Maybe you could use batteries but very simple setups with bare bones things available

[@dannygood9656]

I wonder if you could get more powe if you mixed undecomposed compost with the soil

[@CatEarDad]

Ive read a few things in my lifetime on Nikola Tesla making electricity just from using the soil but the idea wasn't profitable and therefore buried. Not sure if true or not but im glad to see new minds coming to a similar creation that's tangible.

[@OneOfAMineRocks]

Great Stuff! Liked, Subscribed!🎉❤

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

Awesome, thank you!

[@l0I0I0I0]

Would love to see you make a giant one!. Perhaps with a compost bin.

[@user-sk2zm1sw1n]

Sir you are my light🌹

[@jeremylaughery2555]

This is exciting news! I researched this phenomenon back in the early 2000s using a Joe Cell. I thought my results were exciting, but I thought it would not be scalable technology, so I stopped my research. I moved on to ortho-hygrogen experiments.

[@robhudson1501]

Is there scope for a constant feed system? I mean could it be used in conjunction with a compost heap where microbial activity is naturally higher and can be refuelled by adding compostables at the top and soil being deposited below by some type of clever valve system.

[@eastcoastwilly1373]

So how much power do these things generate...3V at how many mA I must have missed that part ?

[@UKsystems]

all depends on specifics so you will have to test as there are too many factors at play

[@MickEMaus3000]

I did a search and found the paper. 1.74 uW/cm^2, 557 uA, and 200 mV.

[@eastcoastwilly1373]

@MickEMaus3000 Awesome thanks so much for the reply

[@shaunphillips6160]

​@MickEMaus3000 I know it's only minute, but surely you can scale up and treat them like batteries and put them in series/parallel etc and perhaps find a way to use a transformer to step up the amperage

[@iRiselyTech]

I’ve got a jar of dirt takes a whole new meaning

[@rickdaly1556]

So...compost would probably be more rewarding than yard soil...it is used for heating now,mixed with sawdust..would harvesting the electrons curb the heat return or is it a separate crop...?

[@gerryjamesedwards1227]

Send-Cut-Send might be another avenue for the stainless steel parts.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

good suggestion mate

[@Moogus]

Pcb way will also cut metal parts

[@RexRioch]

that's a feat worth a mention, indeed!

[@d0pomein]

What if, like, WE are the microbial battery?

[@AkaRyrye83]

Obviously you took the red pill.

[@heerosanosyuy1173]

May someday fiends dont control what is an acceptable means of energy production. I hope one day all forms of energy production are available & accessable. Perhaps like youre showing. We can even power our needs by the dirt itself.

[@justtinkering6713]

Enjoyed the video.

[@colleenforrest7936]

Oddly enough, I have access to a water jet cutter at a local maker group. I've been looking at things like this to create a self powered hydro/aquaponic set up, with the soil powering some of the lights for the plants and using glass and salt water capacitors to trickle store generation during in the day. Its mostly in my head and on paper at this point, but this looks like a piece of the puzzle I can work with 🎉😊 Not seeing the links in the description. Is the assembly video on KZbin or their website?

[@stevetobias4890]

Would this work just as well in a compost bin?

[@lindawisner3525]

hmm septic tanks?

[@tractorguy97]

Crappy power source 😂

[@johnhokoana]

I think yes but one step better would be to hook it to a methane digester. I wonder if you would place it or with the acids or methanogens.

[@EGDD-42]

Oxygen, methane & a short circuit. A quick way to redecorate the neighbours 😂

[@dremaboy777]

Good stuff 👍🏾

[@hyberzone8224]

hello... do you have a link for the cell construction video ?

[@CapnSnackbeard]

This is sort of what we are building, only bigger. 😊

[@__WJK__]

Do you by chance have a youtube channel where we can follow along on the progress(!?)

[@salilsahani2721]

Thank you :)

[@showxating9885]

Would adding molasses to the microbial cell increase longevity or output? Including sugar (food) for the microbes is commonly done in vermiculture tea to increase shelf life.

[@EliotTruelove]

I saw the scientific article on the MARS device and wondered if youd make a video about it

[@bobuncle8704]

I feel the need for some experimenting in my future

[@bens4446]

Fascinating stuff. Is the energy coming completely from microbes, though? You can get a 0.5-1V or so by sticking a cathode and anode into dry sand where you wouldn't expect much of a microbiome.

[@aarondingus3548]

Love the content as always and the new music. Thanks for keeping on keeping on 😎🎳

[@billyen33]

Thanks for featuring out work! If you go to Appendix A2 in the paper, you can find instructions to building our v3.1 design which is entirely 3D printed and requires no waterjet or metal parts :)

[@Delchursing]

Thank you for taking the open source approach. Genius stuff!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

awesome - i will check it out - i love your thinking - cheers

[@fredflintstoner596]

Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam ." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window ? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"

[@kamilhorvat8290]

How do you combine electrons with molecular oxygen ?

[@markemsworth4235]

I've got a large compost-heap which provides enough power for my entire house (and car). 😊

[@AdamBechtol]

Very neat.

[@marcisaacs9407]

Any comments on volts or amps or watts?

[@coachgeo]

Would these power a cell phone? Would be cute to put on the wall as a modern tethered phone powered by an indoor garden tower . Also have thought tucking som solar charging components and a cellphone along with laptop or tablet into an EMP sealed box(s) along with batteries . but batteries would slowly discharge so your still stuck. But enough components to whip soil batteries together could at least get you going till you get some solar stuff up for more heavy charging.

[@meowzic]

How many watts does it produce on average? I wonder how long it would take to recharge a cellphone, if that's possible. I'm not finding information on this.

[@richardwatkins6725]

Amazing Bio batteries that will revolutionise farming and a lot of farmers I’m sure will pick this up.

[@dirtdiggity1714]

Why? Those who want to revolutionize farming, are pretty much never farmers themselves. Lay off the cheetos. 😐

[@lagomorphia9]

@@dirtdiggity1714 Why... because modern farming is becoming ever more expensive and is still a ton of work. Any small short cut in time or expenses would help. Im a small scale farmer but I can see applications like this could help. Its not unlike methane produced by cattle farms being captured and used to heat buildings near the barns, though at this point its rare and experimental. Even compost on large scales produces masses of heat that could be harnessed and used to be in the past with cold frames in gardens producing heat early in spring to get crops off to an earlier start. There is much wisdom in the past.

[@shaunphillips6160]

​@@dirtdiggity1714what are you talking about, farmers modernise all the time, the ones that don't go bust.

[@TheBaconWizard]

@@dirtdiggity1714 There is no need for petty insults to people you know nothing about and have done nothing to deserve it. Just discuss the subject.

[@Wrenchen-with-Darren]

Well, build one for us!!!👍

[@DumpsterElite]

Wondering if you can scale this thing up at all...and how much theoretical wattage could it output at say, a VERY large scale?

[@Maxim.Teleguz]

Let’s build one

[@davidsutherland5044]

You must have looked at the same article I did. I was going to suggest you did something on it but ya beat me to it

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

if you see anyting you want a video on let me know mate - cheers

[@Adrian_Galilea]

Can't find the video on how-to build it :/

[@RyanLebeck-td5ft]

Out of curiosity, would this microbial based power supply work within a septic system? No shortage of microbes there mate

[@Someone-A3]

I don't see the link.

[@WolfeTone17-98]

He always says there will be a link and never adds one

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

just added it mate - sorry about that

[@DavidPaulNewtonScott]

Consider the possibility of using wires buried in the garden exploiting the flow of carbonium ions to the surface. The whole garden would constitute a very large cell.

[@jesusisalive3227]

There are plenty of online laser cutting services that will cut pretty much any file you send them, and itbpretty reasonably priced.

[@goiterlanternbase]

Changing batteries half as often is still an undesired option🤗 Can't we screw the anode in the C horizon, which is basically oxygen free as well?

[@shawkorror]

Aye, and my ar$e plays the banjo...

[@CUBETechie]

Did they test it with wastewater?

[@willcool713]

Huh. Garden lights powered by the compost heap?

[@Johnbro8]

Thanks for sharing

[@rohanmowatt3725]

lovely share Bob!! do you have a link to the video where they were showing how to construct it?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

it's in the paper - link in the description - it is the supplementary material

[@williamgidrewicz4775]

Some sort of a Tesla genius shall devise a way to step up the power.

[@PsychicTeeth]

Gonna make one?

[@tedbomba6631]

And it's dirt cheap, too !

[@timothyjohnson1511]

This is a truly ground breaking, ground sitting device.

[@eldrudj]

Just the beganings starting over again..much more to come to light..The Egyptians knew this(most likely civilizations even futher back)

[@santiagohernandez8229]

What would be the difference between this fuel cell and the earth battery?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

not a lot

[@rxonmymind8362]

What can this be used for again? Not clear on it's uses.

[@daos3300]

could be used to power sensors for an agricultural IoT application

[@Tedeeb4-Legend_in_his_own_mind]

I'm having a problem with sound on this being out of sync.😢 Anyone else?

[@Steven-re7xt]

Dirt batt.. ok. good for powering my crystal radio it has a one transistor af amp. So my rig has a crystal phone.

And if this truly were possible, don't ya think we would have this by now?

[@SevenSixTwo2012]

The main question is : what is the voltage & amperage of this battery? There are plenty of innovative power source inventions, but unfortunately most of them can't even light up an LED light bulb.

[@Yezpahr]

I guess the only thing to worry about long-term is that it doesn't mutate or get a virus. Diversity of used microbes would be a wise precaution to limit chances of colonies going 'bad'. Microbes aren't immune to mutation (evolution) and some have an alarming mutation rate purely due to their increased reproduction rate. The soil itself could conceivably be exhausted of nutrients, but that would indeed take "forever" as it's a closed system and nothing truly gets converted into unbreakable compounds so the "fuel" doesn't deplete. Maybe a mineral supplement and reshuffling of the contents could briefly overclock the battery. Some microbes inherently follow electrical potentials, so it's self-starting too. This thing is so interesting, I can't stop thinking about using it.

[@petemccalam5727]

Where there's muck there's brass!

[@DWSP101]

Still can’t get over it. He still looks like Hannibal Lecter’s brother.

[@rjsongwriter]

How soon until you make and demonstrate? :-)

[@adamofeden2992]

This was a Nickolas Tesla discovery way back when.

[@OldManpf]

Any chance you would have a go at making one?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

certainly

[@unclejohn11]

Where there's muck there's money.

[@happyflea]

Where is the paper link you said you'd put in the description?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

just added it!

[@yeabutwecouldbefreer]

Came here for the amp and voltage but left sad😢. I perused the paper, and maybe I missed something but I cant find anything tangible. Anybody else find anything or build it?

[@billyen33]

Check out section 3.5 and Appendix A2 of the paper! You can find that information there.

[@yeabutwecouldbefreer]

@@billyen33I don't know how not to be negative after seeing the results. I see it now Millivolts, and microwatts/microamps. So this will not scale, and the resistance in wires would keep this out of 99.999% of projects. Because of the lack of scale a .99c super capacitor and a .99c solar cell would fit the same niche. Heck if no light put a thick plate of magnesium and graphite in the soil and it will last for years and give off up to 1.2-1.5v and milliamps for years with only a slight bit of moisture. Put them in a series of planter pots and you can have a 12v battery if you want(but only milliamps). I do appreciate that they publicized it without a paywall though. I also hope that they find a break-through.

[@grilsegrils9330]

Don't you need to add "food"?

[@markeve5788]

One of the reasons some people walk bare foot is to connect to the earth and be charged. We are a big battery after all

[@digus]

Am i missing the link to the paper somewhere? Link to the official build video would also be awesome

[@oradoughball]

I want it too. It appears to be missing.

[@Nuts-Bolts]

I just posted where you can find the paper and download the design files for printing but Rob may be using a 3rd party filter that censors lots of false -positives in the comments.

[@Nuts-Bolts]

No. Rob's using a rouge filter. My comments vanish straight away. They are supposed to reduce only spam comments but some are a pain.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

just added it mate - sorry about that

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

just added it mate - sorry about that

[@gooseface2690]

A good reminder to give my plants a microbial boost. Tip: Chlorinated water decimates microbes.

[@TimeSurfer206]

This is why I use a Rain Barrel for gardening.

[@gooseface2690]

@@TimeSurfer206 Yup! I need one of those 👍

[@marcwilson1052]

Chlorine evaporates within a few days. I just fill a barrel with the tap and leave it for a day or three.

[@TheBaconWizard]

You know, I am just gonna HAVE to see if one can make a battery out of some bacon. I bet you can. Useless, of course, but it amuses me.

[@AkaRyrye83]

For a low power, long term application, ouldnt those little nickel based nuclear batteries be a better option? This is definitely cool, but seems a bit impractical.

[@DavidKenny64]

Yea? Where have you seen them for sale and how much do they cost?