Issue 9, 2020

Copper-bottomed: electrochemically active bacteria exploit conductive sulphide networks for enhanced electrogeneity

Abstract

In this study, we demonstrate that anodic electroactive bacteria like Geobacter sulfurreducens generate copper(I) and copper(II) sulphides when grown on copper electrodes. The insoluble copper sulphides form a conductive network within the biofilms, strongly enhancing the biofilm electrogeneity – i.e., the ability of the biofilm to produce electric currents. Compared to biofilms grown on graphite, the average relative current density of copper-based biofilms was 237%, with a maximum geometric current density of 1.59 ± 0.23 mA cm−2. An additional electrochemical CuS deposition prior to biofilm cultivation further increased the bioelectrocatalytic current generation to 2 mA cm−2. The chemical deposition of CuS onto graphite allowed cultivating biofilms with current densities 134% higher than at unmodified graphite. This approach – the chemical CuS deposition onto inexpensive electrode materials – thus represents a promising pathway for the development of scalable, high-performance electrode materials for microbial electrochemical technologies.

Graphical abstract: Copper-bottomed: electrochemically active bacteria exploit conductive sulphide networks for enhanced electrogeneity

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Apr 2020
Accepted
23 Jul 2020
First published
13 Aug 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Energy Environ. Sci., 2020,13, 3102-3109

Copper-bottomed: electrochemically active bacteria exploit conductive sulphide networks for enhanced electrogeneity

L. Beuth, C. P. Pfeiffer and U. Schröder, Energy Environ. Sci., 2020, 13, 3102 DOI: 10.1039/D0EE01281E

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