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Enhanced redox conductivity and enriched Geobacteraceae of exoelectrogenic biofilms in response to static magnetic field

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

A possible approach to enhance the performance of microbial electrochemical system such as microbial fuel cells is to increase the conductivity of catalytic biofilms and thereby the direct extracellular electron transfer within the biofilms and from the electrode. In the present study, we evaluated the impact of static low-intensity magnetic field on the anodic biofilms in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Results demonstrated that the application of a low-intensity magnetic field (105 and 150 mT) can significantly shorten the startup time and enhance the overall performance of single-chamber MFCs in terms of current density (300%) and power density (150%). In situ conductance evaluation indicated that short-term application of magnetic field can increase biofilm conductivity, although the long-term enhancements were likely results of increased conductivity of the anodic biofilms associated with enriched population of Geobacteraceae. The peak-manner response of conductivity over gate potentials and the positive response of mature biofilm conductance to low intensity of magnetic field support the redox conduction model of the conductive exoelectrogenic biofilms.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Keaton Larson Lesnik and Ningshengjie Gao for their valuable discussion.

Funding

This study was funded by U.S. National Science Foundation (CBET 0955124) and U.S. Department of Energy (DE-EE0007269).

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  1. Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering, Oregon State University, 116 Gilmore Hall, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA

    Cheng Li, Luguang Wang & Hong Liu

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  1. Cheng Li
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  2. Luguang Wang
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  3. Hong Liu
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Correspondence to Hong Liu.

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Li, C., Wang, L. & Liu, H. Enhanced redox conductivity and enriched Geobacteraceae of exoelectrogenic biofilms in response to static magnetic field. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 102, 7611–7621 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-018-9158-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-018-9158-3

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