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Researchers at Linköping University's Organic Electronics Laboratory (Norrköping Campus) have found a way to increase the signal strength of a microbial electrochemical cell by up to 20-fold. The secret is a film with a bacteria incorporated: Shewanella oneidensis.
The addition of bacteria to electrochemical systems is often an environmentally friendly way to turn chemical energy into electricity. Applications include water treatment, bioelectronics, biosensors and energy recovery and storage in fuel cells.
A challenge for process miniaturization is that the high signal strength has up to now required large electrodes and a large volume of liquid.
Today, Linköping University's research team, in collaboration with colleagues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, has developed a method of integrating the bacterium electroactive. Shewanella oneidensis in PEDOT: PSS, an electrically conductive polymer material, on a carbon black substrate.
The researchers call the result a multilayer conductive bacterial composite film, conductive bacterial composite film, MCBF. Microscopic analysis of the film shows an intertwined structure of bacteria and conductive polymers up to 80 μm thick, a much greater thickness than that obtained with other techniques.
"Our experiments show that more than 90% of bacteria are viable and that the bacterial composite film, MCBF, increases the flow of electrons to the external circuit.When the film is used as anode in a biochemical fuel cell, the Current resistance is 20 times higher than that of other materials and lasts for at least several days, says Gábor Méhes, a researcher at Linköping University and author of this scientific article recently published in Scientific Reports.
Previous research has notably tested carbon nanotubes to increase the surface of the anode, but without obtaining the same good results.
The ability to connect biological processes Readable electrical signals are also useful, for example, for environmental sensors because they require fast response time, low power consumption and the ability to insert a wide variety of receivers.
Recently, researchers have demonstrated how Shewanella oneidensis produces electrical current in response to arsenic, arabinos (sugar) or organic acids.
– We present here a type of "living electrode" where the electrode material and the bacteria come together in a single electronic biofilm. As our knowledge of the important role that bacteria play in our health and well-being increases, it is likely that new forms of living electrodes will be developed. It provides us with versatile and adaptable tools for the development of new forms of bioelectronic technologies and therapies, "said Daniel Simon, Director of Organic Bioelectronics Research at the Organic Electronics Laboratory.
L & # 39; section: PEDOT: Multilayer bacteri-composite films based on PSS for bioelectronics, Tom J. Zajdel, Moshe Baruch, Gábor Méhes, Eleni Stavrinidou, Magnus Berggren, Michel Maharbiz, Daniel T. Simon and Caroline M. Ajo-Franklin. Scientific Reports 8, 2018. DOI 10.1038 / s41598-018-33521-9
Contact: Daniel T Simon, [email protected], 011 – 36 34 76
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