Indicators of water biotoxicity obtained from turn-off microbial electrochemical sensors

The development of biosensors is critical to reducing potential risks associated with contamination accidents. However, the application of microbial electrochemical sensors for water biotoxicity monitoring is hampered by the lack of an indicator with high response magnitudes. In this study, microbial electrochemical sensors were fabricated with interdigitated electrode arrays (IDAs), and indicators from various electrochemical analyses were comprehensively investigated. Only the peak of cyclic voltammetry (CV) was highly linearly correlated with the commonly used current indicator during the enrichment of the electroactive biofilm. The resistance fitted from the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) data provided a comparable and even higher inhibition ratio (IR) than the current during toxicity assessments. The differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) did not exhibit a higher sensitivity than the CV peak. However, no clear response was observed in the real-time impedance analysis for use in water biotoxicity monitoring. Most of the microbes were in the propidium iodide (PI)permeable state after the toxicity assessments, although the current was fully recovered. This study demonstrates the potential to use EIS data as indicators of water biotoxicity using microbial electrochemical sensors.

Automated summary

This study fabricated microbial electrochemical sensors with interdigitated electrode arrays and found that only the peak of cyclic voltammetry was highly linearly correlated with the commonly used current indicator, while the resistance from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy provided a comparable or even higher inhibition ratio. Differential pulse voltammetry did not exhibit a higher sensitivity compared to cyclic voltammetry peak. Real-time impedance analysis did not show a clear response for water biotoxicity monitoring.