Microbial Biofuel Cells: Fundamental Principles, Development and Recent Obstacles

This review focuses on the development of microbial biofuel cells to demonstrate how similar principles apply to the development of bioelectronic devices. The low specificity of microorganism-based amperometric biosensors can be exploited in designing microbial biofuel cells, enabling them to consume a broader range of chemical fuels. Charge transfer efficiency is among the most challenging and critical issues while developing biofuel cells. Nanomaterials and particular redox mediators are exploited to facilitate charge transfer between biomaterials and biofuel cell electrodes. The application of conductive polymers (CPs) can improve the efficiency of biofuel cells while CPs are well-suitable for the immobilization of enzymes, and in some specific circumstances, CPs can facilitate charge transfer. Moreover, biocompatibility is an important issue during the development of implantable biofuel cells. Therefore, biocompatibility-related aspects of conducting polymers with microorganisms are discussed in this review. Ways to modify cell-wall/membrane and to improve charge transfer efficiency and suitability for biofuel cell design are outlined.

Automated summary

This review discusses the development of microbial biofuel cells and how similar principles apply to bioelectronic device development. Microorganism-based amperometric biosensors, with their low specificity, can be used to design microbial biofuel cells that can consume a wider range of chemical fuels. Charge transfer efficiency is a major challenge in biofuel cell development, which can be improved using nanomaterials and specific redox mediators. Additionally, the biocompatibility of conducting polymers with microorganisms is explored, including ways to modify cell-walls/membranes and improve charge transfer efficiency for biofuel cell design.