Electronic communication of cells with a surface mediated by boronic acid saccharide interactions

The fabrication of a molecularly tailored surface functionalised with a saccharide binding motif, a phenyl boronic acid derivative is reported.The functionalised surface facilitated the transfer of electrons, via unique electronic interactions mediated by the presence of the boronic acid, from a macrophage cell line. This is the first example of eukaryotic cellular-electrical communication mediated by the binding of cells via their cell–surface saccharide units

Contribution à l'évaluation et à l'optimisation des application des systèmes microbio-électrochimiques : traitement des eaux, production d'électricité, bioélectrosynthèse

Microbial electrochemical devices use the metabolism of particular microorganisms to catalyze redox reactions. The microorganisms organized as biofilms onto anodes and cathodes are usually bacteria defined as electroactive and can be harnessed in electrochemical devices for several applications. A review of the fundamental and practical aspects of this field is presented. The simultaneous generation of electricity coupled to pollutant removal was studied at the anode of microbial fuel cells. Bioanodes developed with acetate (non-fermentable substrate) can adapt to the degradation of fermentable substrates (glucose and lactose). Their adaptation and performances depend on biofilm age, nature of the substrate and regular replacement of anolyte. The physico-chemical properties of electrode surfaces were tuned in order to promote microbial connection. At the anode, we investigated the covalent grafting of phenylboronic acids functionalities that are expected to bind with saccharides of the external membrane of bacteria. This functionalization leads to faster biofilm connection and higher performances of bioanodes on graphite and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. At the cathode, the grafting of chemical functionalities that already proved beneficial to bioanodes did not influence the performances of biocathodes. Different development phases of biocathodes catalyzing O2 reduction at high potential were studied. The monitoring of biocathodes catalyzing CO2 reduction showed a successive generation of organic acids with increasing aliphatic chain length.Les systèmes microbioélectrochimiques exploitent le métabolisme de microorganismes particuliers afin de catalyser des réactions d'oxydoréduction. Ces microorganismes organisés en biofilms à l'anode ou à la cathode sont en général des bactéries dites électroactives et peuvent être exploités dans une multitude d'applications. Une revue bibliographique des aspects fondamentaux et applicatifs de ce domaine est présentée. La génération d'électricité couplée à l'épuration d'eaux usées à l'anode de piles à combustible microbiologiques a été étudiée. Des bioanodes développées à partir d'acétate (substrat non fermentescible) sont capables de s'adapter et de dégrader le glucose et le lactose (substrats fermentescibles). Leur adaptation et leurs performances dépendent de la maturité du biofilm, du substrat et du renouvellement régulier de l'anolyte. Les propriétés physico-chimiques de la surface des électrodes ont été modulées afin de promouvoir la connexion de biofilms. A l'anode, nous avons étudié le greffage covalent d'acides phényle boroniques susceptibles de se complexer avec des glucides de la membrane externe des bactéries. Cette fonctionnalisation permet de réduire le temps de formation des biofilms et d'en améliorer les performances électriques sur graphite et sur nanotubes de carbone à parois multiples. A la cathode, les modifications de surface connues sur les bioanodes n'ont pas démontré d'influence sur les performances des biocathodes. Les différentes phases du développement de biocathodes catalysant la réduction du dioxygène à haut potentiel ont été étudiées. Le suivi de biocathodes réduisant le CO2 en acides organiques montre une production séquentielle d'acides organiques à chaîne aliphatique de plus en plus longue

Contribution to the evaluation and optimisation of microbial electrochemical systems : wastewater treatment, electricity production, microbial electrosynthesis

Les systèmes microbioélectrochimiques exploitent le métabolisme de microorganismes particuliers afin de catalyser des réactions d'oxydoréduction. Ces microorganismes organisés en biofilms à l'anode ou à la cathode sont en général des bactéries dites électroactives et peuvent être exploités dans une multitude d'applications. Une revue bibliographique des aspects fondamentaux et applicatifs de ce domaine est présentée. La génération d'électricité couplée à l'épuration d'eaux usées à l'anode de piles à combustible microbiologiques a été étudiée. Des bioanodes développées à partir d'acétate (substrat non fermentescible) sont capables de s'adapter et de dégrader le glucose et le lactose (substrats fermentescibles). Leur adaptation et leurs performances dépendent de la maturité du biofilm, du substrat et du renouvellement régulier de l'anolyte. Les propriétés physico-chimiques de la surface des électrodes ont été modulées afin de promouvoir la connexion de biofilms. A l'anode, nous avons étudié le greffage covalent d'acides phényle boroniques susceptibles de se complexer avec des glucides de la membrane externe des bactéries. Cette fonctionnalisation permet de réduire le temps de formation des biofilms et d'en améliorer les performances électriques sur graphite et sur nanotubes de carbone à parois multiples. A la cathode, les modifications de surface connues sur les bioanodes n'ont pas démontré d'influence sur les performances des biocathodes. Les différentes phases du développement de biocathodes catalysant la réduction du dioxygène à haut potentiel ont été étudiées. Le suivi de biocathodes réduisant le CO2 en acides organiques montre une production séquentielle d'acides organiques à chaîne aliphatique de plus en plus longue.Microbial electrochemical devices use the metabolism of particular microorganisms to catalyze redox reactions. The microorganisms organized as biofilms onto anodes and cathodes are usually bacteria defined as electroactive and can be harnessed in electrochemical devices for several applications. A review of the fundamental and practical aspects of this field is presented. The simultaneous generation of electricity coupled to pollutant removal was studied at the anode of microbial fuel cells. Bioanodes developed with acetate (non-fermentable substrate) can adapt to the degradation of fermentable substrates (glucose and lactose). Their adaptation and performances depend on biofilm age, nature of the substrate and regular replacement of anolyte. The physico-chemical properties of electrode surfaces were tuned in order to promote microbial connection. At the anode, we investigated the covalent grafting of phenylboronic acids functionalities that are expected to bind with saccharides of the external membrane of bacteria. This functionalization leads to faster biofilm connection and higher performances of bioanodes on graphite and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. At the cathode, the grafting of chemical functionalities that already proved beneficial to bioanodes did not influence the performances of biocathodes. Different development phases of biocathodes catalyzing O2 reduction at high potential were studied. The monitoring of biocathodes catalyzing CO2 reduction showed a successive generation of organic acids with increasing aliphatic chain length

Modified electrodes for more powerful and sustainable plant-MFCs

International audienceno abstrac

Enzymatic versus microbial bio-catalyzed electrodes in bio-electrochemical systems.

International audienceCatalyses of electrode reactions by oxidoreductases or living electroactive bacteria are compared and recent advances reviewed. The relation between the biological and nevertheless inert nature of enzymes and the living machinery of electroactive microbes is discussed. The way these biocatalysts may be electrically contacted to anodes or cathodes is considered with a focus on their immobilization at electrodes and on the issue of time stability of these assemblies. Recent improvements in power output of biofuel cells are reviewed together with applications that have appeared in the literature. This account also reviews new approaches for combining enzymes and living microbes in bioelectrochemical systems such as reproducing microbial metabolisms with enzyme cascades and expressing oxidoreductases on genetically engineered microbes. Finally, the use of surface chemistry for studying the microbe-electrode interface and bioelectrodes with cell organelles, such as mitochondria, or with higher organisms, such as yeasts, are discussed. Some perspectives for future research to extend this field are offered as conclusions

Graphite anode surface modification with controlled reduction of specific aryl diazonium salts for improved microbial fuel cells power output.

International audienceGraphite electrodes were modified with redn. of aryl diazonium salts and implemented as anodes in microbial fuel cells. First, redn. of 4-aminophenyl diazonium is considered using increased coulombic charge d. from 16.5 to 200 mC/cm2. This procedure introduced aryl amine functionalities at the surface which are neutral at neutral pH. These electrodes were implemented as anodes in "H" type microbial fuel cells inoculated with waste water, acetate as the substrate and using ferricyanide redn. at the cathode and a 1000 Ω external resistance. When the microbial anode had developed, the performances of the microbial fuel cells were measured under acetate satn. conditions and compared with those of control microbial fuel cells having an unmodified graphite anode. We found that the max. power d. of microbial fuel cell first increased as a function of the extent of modification, reaching an optimum after which it decreased for higher degree of surface modification, becoming even less performing than the control microbial fuel cell. Then, the effect of the introduction of charged groups at the surface was investigated at a low degree of surface modification. It was found that neg. charged groups at the surface (carboxylate) decreased microbial fuel cell power output while the introduction of pos. charged groups doubled the power output. SEM revealed that the microbial anode modified with pos. charged groups was covered by a dense and homogeneous biofilm. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analyses showed that this biofilm consisted to a large extent of bacteria from the known electroactive Geobacter genus. In summary, the extent of modification of the anode was found to be crit. for the microbial fuel cell performance. The nature of the chem. group introduced at the electrode surface was also found to significantly affect the performance of the microbial fuel cells. The method used for modification is easy to control and can be optimized and implemented for many carbon materials currently used in microbial fuel cells and other bioelectrochem. systems. [on SciFinder(R)

Phenylboronic Acid Modified Anodes Promote Faster Biofilm Adhesion and Increase Microbial Fuel Cell Performances

International audiencePhenylboronic acid was grafted on microbial fuel cells graphite anodes by electrochemical reduction of aryl diazonium salts. This chemical functionality enabled a faster connection of electroactive biofilms on the anodes and resulted in higher power densities and anodic catalytical current densities compared to MFCs working with unmodified electrodes

Collecte d'énergie de sédiment fluviatile à l'aide d'un biopile: premiers résultats

International audienceWe have built a sedimentary fuel cell or Sediment Microbial Fuel Cell (SMFC). The device works on the principle of microbial fuel cells by exploiting directly the energy contained in sedimentary organic matter. It converts in electricity the sediment potential, thanks to microorganisms able to waste electrons from their metabolism directly to a solid anode instead of their natural electron acceptors, such as oxygen or nitrate. The sediment microbial fuel cell was made of a non-corrodible anode (graphite) buried in anoxic sediments layer and connected via an electrical circuit to a cathode installed in surface water. We present the first results of laboratory sedimentary fuel cell and a prototype installed in the river

Influence of inoculum and anode surface properties on the selection of Geobacter-dominated biofilms

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This study evaluated the impact of inoculum source and anode surface modification (carboxylate -COO- and sulfonamide -SO2NH2 groups) on the microbial composition of anode-respiring biofilms. These two factors have not previously been considered in detail. Three different inoculum sources were investigated, a dry aerobic soil, brackish estuarine mud and freshwater sediment. The biofilms were selected using a poised anode (-0.36 V vs Ag/AgCl) and acetate as the electron donor in a three-electrode configuration microbial fuel cell (MFC). Population profiling and cloning showed that all biofilms selected were dominated by Geobacter sp., although their electrochemical properties varied depending on the source inoculum and electrode surface modification. These findings suggest that Geobacter sp. are widespread in soils, even those that do not provide a continuously anaerobic environment, and are better at growing in the MFC conditions than other bacteria