Microbial electrochemical technologies: Electronic circuitry and characterization tools

Microbial electrochemistry merges microbiology, electrochemistry and electronics to provide a set of technologies for environmental engineering applications. Understanding the electronic concepts is crucial for effectively adopting these systems, but the importance of electronic circuitry is often overlooked by microbial electrochemistry researchers. This review provides the background on the electronics and electrochemical concepts involved in the study of microorganisms interacting with electricity, and their applications in microbial electrochemical technology (MET). The potentiostat circuitry is described along with its working principles. Electrochemical analyses are presented together with the rational and parameters employed to study MET devices and electroactive microorganisms. Finally, future directions are delineated towards the adoption of MET, and the related electronics, in environmental engineering applications. ; This work has been financed by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Professorship Programme Innovative Energy Technologies for Biofuels, Bioenergy and a Sustainable Irish Bioeconomy (award no. 15/RP/2763). The authors thank Uwe Schröder group (Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany) for kindly permitting re-using their data to plot the graphs shown on Fig. 8. ; peer-reviewed ; 2021-11-16