Electrochemically active biofilm-enabled biosensors: Current status and opportunities for biofilm engineering

Electrochemically active biofilms (EABs) are formed by electroactive bacteria capable of exchanging electrons with electrodes. EABs have been employed as bio-elements in bioelectrochemical sensors which sense analytes of interest by converting metabolic changes to easily detectable electrical signals. Although EAB-enabled biosensors have shown promise in environmental applications, such as water quality monitoring, their most perceived practical applications are limited by low sensitivity, low specificity and short-term stability. Engineering EABs could be an effective strategy to improve the performance of EAB-enabled biosensors. In this review, we briefly introduce EAB with the focus on its extracellular electron transfer, development and matrix, as well as EAB-enabled biosensors including their general principle and potential applications. We then discuss key limita-tions of EAB-enabled biosensors and the opportunities that biofilm engineering may provide to address these limitations.

Automated summary

Electrochemically active biofilms (EABs) are formed by electroactive bacteria that can exchange electrons with electrodes. They have been widely used in bioelectrochemical sensors. However, the sensitivity, specificity, and stability of EAB-enabled biosensors are still limited. Therefore, engineering EABs is an effective strategy to improve their performance.