Electrochemical and microbiological response of exoelectrogenic biofilm to polyethylene microplastics in water

Exoelectrogenic biofilm and the associated microbial electrochemical processes have recently been intensively studied for water treatment, but their response to and interaction with polyethylene (PE) microplastics which are widespread in various aquatic environments has never been reported. Here, we investigated how and to what extent PE microplastics would affect the electrochemistry and microbiology of exoelectrogenic biofilm in both microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). When the PE microplastics concentration was increased from 0 to 75 mg/L in the MECs, an apparent decline in the maximum current density (from 1.99 to 0.74 A/m(2)) and abundance of electroactive bacteria (EAB) in the exoelectrogenic biofilm was noticed. While in the MFCs, the current output was not significantly influenced and the abundance of EAB lightly increased at 25 mg/L microplastics. In addition, PE microplastics restrained the viability of the exoelectrogenic biofilms in both systems, leading to a higher system electrode resistance. Moreover, the microbial community richness and the microplastics-related operational taxonomic units decreased with PE microplastics. Furthermore, the electron transfer-related genes (e.g., pilA and mtrC) and cytochrome c concentration decreased after adding microplastics. This study provides the first glimpse into the influence of PE microplastics on the exoelectrogenic biofilm with the potential mechanisms revealed at the gene level, laying a methodological foundation for the future development of efficient water treatment technologies.

Automated summary

This study investigates the influence of polyethylene (PE) microplastics on exoelectrogenic biofilm. The experiments reveal that an increase in PE microplastics concentration leads to a decline in current density and abundance of electroactive bacteria in the biofilm. The viability of the biofilm is also restrained by the presence of PE microplastics, resulting in higher system electrode resistance. Furthermore, microbial community richness and expression of electron transfer-related genes decrease after the addition of microplastics.