Journal
BIOFOULING
Volume 28, Issue 8, Pages 789-812Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/08927014.2012.710324
Keywords
electrochemically active biofilms; electroactive biofilms; anode-respiring biofilms; bioelectrochemical systems; electron transfer; anode; cathode; microbial fuel cell; microbial electrolysis cell
Funding
- US Office of Naval Research (ONR) [N00014-09-1 0090]
- National Science Foundation (NSF) [0954186]
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) [T32-GM008336]
- Div Of Chem, Bioeng, Env, & Transp Sys
- Directorate For Engineering [0954186] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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This review examines the electrochemical techniques used to study extracellular electron transfer in the electrochemically active biofilms that are used in microbial fuel cells and other bioelectrochemical systems. Electrochemically active biofilms are defined as biofilms that exchange electrons with conductive surfaces: electrodes. Following the electrochemical conventions, and recognizing that electrodes can be considered reactants in these bioelectrochemical processes, biofilms that deliver electrons to the biofilm electrode are called anodic, ie electrode-reducing, biofilms, while biofilms that accept electrons from the biofilm electrode are called cathodic, ie electrode-oxidizing, biofilms. How to grow these electrochemically active biofilms in bioelectrochemical systems is discussed and also the critical choices made in the experimental setup that affect the experimental results. The reactor configurations used in bioelectrochemical systems research are also described and the authors demonstrate how to use selected voltammetric techniques to study extracellular electron transfer in bioelectrochemical systems. Finally, some critical concerns with the proposed electron transfer mechanisms in bioelectrochemical systems are addressed together with the prospects of bioelectrochemical systems as energy-converting and energy-harvesting devices.
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