Fungal-mediated electrochemical system: Prospects, applications and challenges

Hemen Sarma; P N Bhattacharyya; Dipak A Jadhav; Prajakta Pawar; Mayur Thakare; Soumya Pandit; Abhilasha Singh Mathuriya; Ram Prasad

doi:10.1016/j.crmicr.2021.100041

Fungal-mediated electrochemical system: Prospects, applications and challenges

Curr Res Microb Sci. 2021 May 29:2:100041. doi: 10.1016/j.crmicr.2021.100041. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Authors

Hemen Sarma¹, P N Bhattacharyya², Dipak A Jadhav³, Prajakta Pawar⁴, Mayur Thakare⁴, Soumya Pandit⁵, Abhilasha Singh Mathuriya⁵, Ram Prasad⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Botany, Nanda Nath Saikia College, Titabar 785630, Assam, India.
² Mycology and Microbiology Department, Tocklai Tea Research Institute, Tea Research Association, Jorhat 785008, Assam, India.
³ Department of Agricultural Engineering, Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Aurangabad, 431010, India.
⁴ Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 410206, India.
⁵ Department of Life Sciences, School of Basic Sciences and Research, Sharda University, Greater Noida, 201306, India.
⁶ Department of Botany, Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari, 845401, Bihar, India.

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) that generate bioelectricity from biodegradable waste have received considerable attention from biologists. Fungi play a significant role as both anodic and cathodic catalysts in MFCs. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a fungus with an ability to transfer electrons through mediators such as methylene blue (MB), neutral red (NR) or even without a mediator. This unique role of fungal cells in exocellular electron transfer (EET) and their interactions with electrodes hold a lot of promise in areas such as wastewater treatment where yeast cell-based MFCs can be used. The present article highlights the physico-chemical factors affecting the performance of fungal-mediated MFCs in terms of power output and degradation of organic pollutants, along with the challenges associated with fungal MFCs. In addition, to this comparative assessment of fungal-mediated bio-electrochemical systems, their development, possible applications and potential challenges are also discussed.

Keywords: Bioelectricity; Biofuel; Electron mediator; Fungal cells; Microbial fuel cell (MFC); Power density; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Wastewater treatment.

Publication types

Review