1. Yat Li developed a solar-microbial device to produced hydrogen. The Microbial fuel cell (MFC) uses bacteria to degrade organic matter and produce electricity. The Photoelectrical cell generating the electricity splits the water using electrolysis.

2. The Li, hybrid device is self-sustaining, “bio battery”. The two energy sources are waste water and sunlight.

3. The device relies on a bacteria known as electrogenic bacteria. The bacteria generates electric by “transferring metabolically generated electrons across their cell membrane to an external electrode.”