Microbial fuel cells and their electrified biofilms

John Greenman; Iwona Gajda; Jiseon You; Buddhi Arjuna Mendis; Oluwatosin Obata; Grzegorz Pasternak; Ioannis Ieropoulos

doi:10.1016/j.bioflm.2021.100057

Microbial fuel cells and their electrified biofilms

Biofilm. 2021 Sep 20:3:100057. doi: 10.1016/j.bioflm.2021.100057. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Authors

John Greenman¹, Iwona Gajda¹, Jiseon You¹, Buddhi Arjuna Mendis¹, Oluwatosin Obata¹, Grzegorz Pasternak², Ioannis Ieropoulos¹

Affiliations

¹ Bristol BioEnergy Centre, BRL, University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, BS16 1QY, UK.
² Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland.

Abstract

Bioelectrochemical systems (BES) represent a wide range of different biofilm-based bioreactors that includes microbial fuel cells (MFCs), microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) and microbial desalination cells (MDCs). The first described bioelectrical bioreactor is the Microbial Fuel Cell and with the exception of MDCs, it is the only type of BES that actually produces harvestable amounts of electricity, rather than requiring an electrical input to function. For these reasons, this review article, with previously unpublished supporting data, focusses primarily on MFCs. Of relevance is the architecture of these bioreactors, the type of membrane they employ (if any) for separating the chambers along with the size, as well as the geometry and material composition of the electrodes which support biofilms. Finally, the structure, properties and growth rate of the microbial biofilms colonising anodic electrodes, are of critical importance for rendering these devices, functional living 'engines' for a wide range of applications.

Keywords: Bioenergy; Electricity; Microbial fuel cell; Perfusion electrodes; Synchrony.