Stability and reliability of anodic biofilms under different feedstock conditions: Towards microbial fuel cell sensors

Walter, X. Alexis; You, Jiseon; Greenman, John; Melhuish, Chris; Ieropoulos, Ioannis

Abstract

© 2015 The Authors. Stability and reliability of microbial fuel cell anodic biofilms, consisting of mixed cultures, were investigated in a continuously fed system. Two groups of anodic biofilm matured with different substrates, acetate and casein for 20-25. days, reached steady states and produced 80-87. μW and 20-29. μW consistently for 3. weeks, respectively. When the substrates were swapped, the casein-enriched group showed faster response to acetate and higher power output, compared to the acetate-enriched group. Also when the substrates were switched back to their original groups, the power output of both groups returned to the previous levels more quickly than when the substrates were swapped the first time. During the substrate change, both MFC groups showed stable power output once they reached their steady states and the output of each group with different substrates was reproducible within the same group. Community level physiological profiling also revealed the possibility of manipulating anodic biofilm metabolisms through exposure to different feedstock conditions.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2015
• Journal: Sensing and Bio-Sensing Research
• Print ISSN: 2214-1804
• Electronic ISSN: 2214-1804
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Pages: 43-50
• Institution Citation: Walter, X. A., You, J., Walter, X. A., Greenman, J., Melhuish, C., & Ieropoulos, I. (2015). Stability and reliability of anodic biofilms under different feedstock conditions: Towards microbial fuel cell sensors. Sensing and Bio-Sensing Research, 6, 43-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbsr.2015.11.007
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbsr.2015.11.007
• Keywords: 3D printed microbial fuel cell (MFC), anodic biofilm, microbial community, substrate change, biosensor
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbsr.2015.11.007
• Additional Information: Additional Information : The dataset for this study is available from the UWE Research Data Repository: http://researchdata.uwe.ac.uk/153/