Tiny batteries that eat wastewater and make electricity

At Binghamton University in New York, engineers have built tiny batteries powered by bacteria feeding on wastewater. The design copies a shape from biology — giving the microbes more surface to live on and feed — and the bacteria repay the favour by releasing electrons as they eat, generating a small but real electric current. The team imagines future versions tucked inside wastewater pipes, where the flow itself is the fuel, quietly powering sensors that watch water quality without anyone changing a battery. It is early laboratory work, not a product: the bacteria must stay healthy in real pipes, with real temperatures and flows. But the principle now works better than before — waste in, power out.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: tech innovation