$7.8M Award Led by ENST's Dr. Lansing Aims to Revolutionize Renewable Energy for Ocean Monitoring Devices

Dr. Stephanie Lansing Leads Development of Advanced Fuel Cells Powered by Marine Microbes

The research group is developing an advanced fuel cell that supplies energy derived from marine microbes. It could power ocean sensing devices that provide information about everything from water chemistry to the movement of some marine animals.

Image Credit: Adobe Stock

January 7, 2025 Kimbra Cutlip

A University of Maryland researcher has received a $7.8 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop and test a biologically fueled energy source to power research and sensing devices throughout the world’s oceans.

Environmental science and technology Professor Stephanie Lansing is heading up a large, collaborative effort that aims to overcome the need for batteries and ship- or shore-based power cables by using microorganisms in ocean water and specialized bacteria to create a marine-based microbial fuel cell that can produce outputs of up to 10 watts consistently for a year or more.

The devices could power a vast array of ocean sensing devices that provide critical information for understanding marine environments, monitoring climate change and maintaining national security.

“This unique collaboration of interdisciplinary experts will produce a bioinspired system that has game-changing potential to provide direct electric power to improve sensing capabilities while protecting and limiting the impact to the environment through use of this unique bioenergy system,” Lansing said.

Read full story in Maryland Today