From the "supplemental information" [1] part of the actual paper [2], the levels of current are measured in μA and tenths of volts (ie. in the order of μW of power).
What is fully unclear to me is how (or whether) that power can be harvested and put to any electrical use. Or perhaps it is only of chemical interest?
From the video it looks like they are just using a few mils of liquid volume. My question would be how well does this method scale up? Maybe waste water treatment plants could offset their carbon footprint a significant amount or even become a power plant if this technology gets better.
Most waste water treatment plants are already 'carbon negative' - since they're getting fossil-fuel-free turds and normally turn it into methane for energy generation.
On official charts, it shows as 'biogas' - although usually in statistics the biogas from waste water treatment processes isn't separated from the biogas generated from municipal landfills.
I was skeptical about your claim but I turns out that you are right! I knew about agricultural biogas production but never though about the potential of methane production from waste water treatment.
Even more surprising is that the generated biogas is used in the municipital gas supply in my town[1]. So I literally cook with fecal products.
What is fully unclear to me is how (or whether) that power can be harvested and put to any electrical use. Or perhaps it is only of chemical interest?
[1] https://www.cell.com/cms/10.1016/j.joule.2023.08.006/attachm... [2] https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(23)00352-5?_r...