The versatility of gold for electrode manufacture suggests that it could be an ideal material for some microbial fuel cell applications. However, previous studies have suggested that microorganisms that readily transfer electrons to graphite do not transfer electrons to gold. Investigations with Geobacter sulfurreducens demonstrated that it could grow on gold anodes producing current nearly as ...

The possibility of generating electricity with microbial fuel cells has been recognized for some time, but practical applications have been slow to develop. The recent development of a microbial fuel cell that can harvest electricity from the organic matter stored in marine sediments has demonstrated the feasibility of producing useful amounts of electricity in remote environments. Further stud...

Sediments play a key role in the marine nitrogen cycle and can act either as a source or a sink of biologically available (fixed) nitrogen. This cycling is driven by a number of microbial remineralization reactions, many of which occur across the oxic/anoxic interface near the sediment surface. The presence and activity of large burrowing macrofauna (bioturbators) in the sediment can significan...

Although the mechanisms of bioelectrocatalytic substrate oxidation processes in microbial fuel cells and, especially, of anodic electron transfer are of utmost importance for the performance of microbial fuel cells, little is known, so far, of the nature of the underlying mechanisms. For this reason, research activities in this field have considerably intensified over the past years. Different ...

A cold methane seep was discovered in a forearc sediment basin off the island Sumatra, exhibiting a methane-seep adapted microbial community. A defined seep center of activity, like in mud volcanoes, was not discovered. The seep area was rather characterized by a patchy distribution of active spots. The relevance of anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) was reflected by (13)C-depleted isotopic s...

Practical applications of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for wastewater treatment will require operation of these systems over a wide range of wastewater temperatures. MFCs at room or higher temperatures (20-35°C) are relatively well studied compared those at lower temperatures. MFC performance was examined here over a temperature range of 4-30°C in terms of startup time needed for reproducible po...

The potential for hydrogen gas to stimulate microbial respiratory activity in sediments was investigated. Cell elutions from Passaic River (NJ), San Diego Bay (CA), and Marine Harbor sediments were amended with hydrogen gas to evaluate its impact on microbial activity measured by intracellular reduction of 5cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride (CTC). The transferability of this approach to se...

The technology is based on microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which use microorganisms as catalysts to convert chemical energy to electrical energy. The paper’s authors, including Bruce Logan of Pennsylvania State University and Xiaoxin Cao of Tsinghua University (China), are among the small group of researchers worldwide trying to improve MFCs—or bioelectrochemical systems, as they are beginning to ...

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) research is a rapidly evolving field that lacks established terminology and methods for the analysis of system performance. This makes it difficult for researchers to compare devices on an equivalent basis. The construction and analysis of MFCs requires knowledge of different scientific and engineering fields, ranging from microbiology and electrochemistry to materials...