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In this paper, we present a photobiological fuel cell that utilizes the metabolic activity of living cells of Rhodobacter sphaeroides for the generation of electricity based on the in situ oxidation of photobiological hydrogen. Organic acids and alcohols contained in synthetic media as well as in fermented media of Escherichia coli K 12 served as the proton donor source for the photobiological hydrogen production by R. sphaeroides. We demonstrate thatthe photobiological hydrogen is efficiently oxidized in the microbial medium at electrocatalytic electrodes coated with a platinum-poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (Pt-PEDOT) bilayer composite. The experimental results are discussed in terms of current and power output, substrate, and solar conversion efficiency.
Rosenbaum et al. (2005) studied this question.