Microbe-mediated Electricity Generation

微生物燃料电池是一种非凡的“绿色能源”装置，它利用微生物从有机化合物中发电。这些燃料电池在生物能源领域引起了极大的兴奋，因为它们有潜力为各种技术提供动力，包括废水处理、在低可达性地区长期运行的自主传感器、移动机器人/传感器平台和可再生能源系统。不幸的是，目前的微生物燃料电池产生的能量很低，这一事实阻碍了该技术的广泛应用。更好地了解微生物如何发电将大大提高燃料电池的性能。此外，允许以大规模并行方式研究微生物发电的新平台对于显着推进该领域至关重要。有了这些想法，一种能够以大规模并行的方式揭示微生物如何发电的新技术将被开发出来。此外，还将开展少数族裔外展和教育项目，培训下一代生物能源科学领域的领导者。总之，这些努力将对微生物发电的研究和下一代微生物燃料电池的发展产生深远的影响。

CBET-0854684de FigueiredoMicrobial fuel cells are remarkable "green energy" devices that exploit microbes to generate electricity from organic compounds. These fuel cells have generated significant excitement in the bioenergy community because of their potential for powering diverse technologies, including waste water treatment, autonomous sensors for long-term operations in low accessibility regions, mobile robot/sensor platforms, and renewable energy systems. Unfortunately, current microbial fuel cells produce low amounts of power, a fact that has stymied widespread application of the technology. A better understanding of how microbes can generate electricity will significantly improve fuel cell performance. In addition, new platforms that allow for microbial electricity production to be studied in a massively parallel fashion are essential to significantly advance the field. With these ideas in mind, a novel technology that can, in a massively parallel fashion, uncover how microbes generate electricity will be developed. In addition, a minority outreach and educational program that will train the next generation leaders in the bioenergy sciences will be pursued. Taken together, these efforts will have far-reaching implications for the study of electricity generation by microbes, and the development of next generation microbial fuel cells.