Scientists use human urine to charge mobile

Human urine has been used to charge a mobile phone in a major breakthrough for researchers.

Will you charge your phone with your urine?

Just half a litre of waste generated enough power to make a six-minute phone call and to send several text messages.

If the technology can be developed further, it might have grander implications for providing electricity to remote communities in the developing world.

Researcher Dr Ioannis Ieropoulos said: ‘Using the ultimate waste product as a source of power to produce electricity is about as eco as it gets. One product that we can be sure of an unending supply is our own urine.’

The technology relies on passing urine through fuel cells made of microbes. As they feed off the urine, they produce electricity – in this case, enough to charge the battery of a basic Samsung phone.

Dr Ieropoulos and his team, from the University of the West of England, said it was the first time urine had been used directly to power a commercially available battery.

However, Prof Will Stewart, of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, told Metro there were already other renewable means of powering electronic devices which were very practical to use in developing countries.

He added: ‘A solar panel the size of a paperback book will charge a phone within two or three hours.’

Source: Metro UK