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Updated: Aug 9, 2025

Waste Water Derived Electroactive Microbial Biofilms: Growth, Maintenance, and Basic Characterization
Published on: December 29, 2013
Microbe-Anode Interactions: Comparing the impact of genetic and material engineering approaches to improve the
Edina M Klein1, Melanie T Knoll1, Johannes Gescher1
1Institute of Technical Microbiology, University of Technology Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Abstract:
Microbial electrochemical systems (MESs) are a highly versatile platform technology with a particular focus on power or energy production. Often, they are used in combination with substrate conversion (e.g., wastewater treatment) and production of value-added compounds via electrode-assisted fermentation. This rapidly evolving field has seen great improvements both technically and biologically, but this interdisciplinarity sometimes hampers overseeing strategies to increase process efficiency. In this review, we first briefly summarize the terminology of the technology and outline the biological background that is essential for understanding and thus improving MES technology. Thereafter, recent research on improvements at the biofilm-electrode interface will be summarized and discussed, distinguishing between biotic and abiotic approaches. The two approaches are then compared, and resulting future directions are discussed. This mini-review therefore provides basic knowledge of MES technology and the underlying microbiology in general and reviews recent improvements at the bacteria-electrode interface.
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