Microbial solar cells: applying photosynthetic and electrochemically active organisms

Microbial solar cells (MSCs) are recently developed technologies utilizing solar energy to produce electricity or chemicals. MSCs use photoautotrophic microorganisms or higher plants to harvest solar energy, and use electrochemically active microorganisms in the bioelectrochemical system to generate electrical current. Here, we review the principles and performance of various MSCs, in an effort to identify the most promising systems as well as the bottlenecks and potential solutions towards „real life. MSC application. We give an outlook on future applications based on the intrinsic advantages of MSCs, showcasing specifically how these living energy systems can facilitate the development of an electricity-producing green roof.This is a "Post-Print" accepted manuscript, which has been published in "Trends in Biotechnology". This version is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Netherlands License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Please cite this publication as follows: 2011 Trends in Biotechnology Microbial solar cells: applying photosynthetic and electrochemically active organisms. David P.B.T.B. Strik, Ruud A. Timmers, Marjolein Helder, Kirsten J.J. Steinbusch, Hubertus V.M. Hamelers, , Cees J.N. Buisman. Trends in Biotechnology 29 (1), 41-49 You can download the published version at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2010.10.00