Artificial three-dimensional biotops with electroactive bacteria for highly efficient microbial fuel cells by use of metal/polymer fiber hybrid structures

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Andreas Greiner; Professor Dr. Uwe Schröder
• Subject Area: Biological and Biomimetic Chemistry ; Polymer Materials
• Term: from 2012 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 220918832

• Final Report Year: 2021

Final Report Abstract

In this project we: gained fundamental insides into the enhancement of extracellular electron transfer processes in electroactive biofilms by microbial copper sulphide formation; transferred this bio-inorganic hybrid structure concept towards the development of inexpensive, high-performance electrode materials based on CuS modified graphite; gained systematic insights into the impact of micro- and macrostructural surface elements of biofilm electrodes on the formation and performance of anodic, electrochemically active biofilms; developed a model for the description and development of optimal geometries of 3D flowthrough biofilm electrodes; developed flexible highly electroconductive composite nonwovens by wet-laid process; probed AgNW containing composite nonwovens for MFC; achieved wet-laid composite nonwovens with functional microbes.

Publications

• Polymer nanofibre composite nonwovens with metal-like electrical conductivity. npj Flexible Electronics 2 (2018)
  Steffen Reich, Matthias Burgard, Markus Langner, Shaohua Jiang, Xueqin Wang, Seema Agarwal, Bin Ding, Jianyong Yu & Andreas Greiner
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41528-017-0018-5)
• Scratching the surface – How decisive are microscopic surface structures on growth and performance of electrochemically active bacteria? Frontiers in Energy Research 7 (2019) 18
  Christopher Moß, Sunil A. Patil, Uwe Schröder
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2019.00018)
• Breathable and Flexible Polymer Membranes with Mechanoresponsive Electric Resistance. Advanced Functional Materials 30 (2020) Article number 1907555
  Gao, Q., Kopera, B.A.F., Zhu, J., Liao, X., Gao, C., Retsch, M., Agarwal, S., Greiner, A.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201907555)
• Copper-bottomed: electrochemically active bacteria exploit conductive sulphide networks for enhanced electrogeneity. Energy & Environmental Science 13 (2020) 3102-3109
  Laura Beuth, Catharina Philine Pfeiffer, Uwe Schröder
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ee01281e)
• Optimal Geometric Parameters for 3D Electrodes in Bioelectrochemical Systems: A Systematic Approach. ChemSusChem 13 (2020) 5119-5129
  Christopher Moß, Niklas Jarmatz, Janina Heinze, Stephan Scholl, Uwe Schröder
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202001232)
• Studying the impact of wall shear stress on the development and performance of electrochemically active biofilms. ChemPlusChem 85 (2020) 2298-2307
  Christopher Moß, Niklas Jarmatz, Dave Hartig, Lukas Schnöing, Stephan Scholl, Uwe Schröder
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/cplu.202000544)
• The limits of three-dimensionality - Systematic assessment of effective anode macrostructure dimensions for mixed culture electroactive biofilms. ChemSusChem 13 (2020) 582-589
  Christopher Moß, Andreas Behrens, Uwe Schröder
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201902923)