Sensors are used across the world’s oceans to fulfill a host of functions, including everything from monitoring the environment and changing climate to detecting seismic signals to warn of tsunamis. These sensors collect critical information about marine environments, especially concerning climate and national security. Traditionally, these devices are powered by batteries, which typically only provide power for a few months at a time.
Professor Matthew Rau is a part of the interdisciplinary team that will address this problem with groundbreaking research. Rau’s team will explore how they can use organic material naturally occurring in the ocean to fuel microbial fuel cells that will power these sensors continuously for a year or more.
The multi-institutional team received a Phase 1 $7.8M award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop and test a biologically-fueled energy source to power sensors and other research devices throughout the world’s oceans. The team includes collaborators from eight other institutions, including Battelle, Harvard University, University of Maryland Baltimore County at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET), James Madison University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Delaware, and Yokogawa Corporation of America. The first phase of the project will run through Summer 2026.
Prof. Rau, a Mechanical Engineer and fluid mechanics expert, will be responsible for designing an organic particulate capture device for the microbial fuel cell. There is a large amount of living organic particulate matter in the ocean, like algae and phytoplankton, and Rau’s role will be to develop a mechanism for harvesting those particles to serve as a power source for the microbial fuel cell.
Developing the team’s Persistent Oceanographic Device Power (PODPower) system will not be without challenges. The particulate matter will all be microscopic, less than 1 millimeter in size, and the device must be extremely efficient in order to maximize the amount of energy the fuel cell can provide to the sensors. In order to address these challenges, Rau and the team will study and emulate the behavior of filter feeding fish like manta rays and basking sharks to develop an efficient particle capture device for the fuel cell.
“I’m really excited about this project because it’s going to combine some very intricate fluid physics in order to design a very practical but useful particle filtration technology,” Rau said. “It involves fundamental research that translates quickly into real-world applications.”
The research team is funded through DARPA’s BioLogical Undersea Energy (BLUE) program, which supports the development of innovative technologies that use ocean biomass to power and improve the capability and endurance of ocean-deployed sensors. In addition to the $7.8M granted for Phase 1 development and deployment, an additional $3.4M is possible to support Phase 2 of the project, which will involve scale-up and long-term demonstrations of the technology deployed in the ocean.