Generation of Electricity by Electrogenic Bacteria in a Microbial Fuel Cell Powered by Waste Water

The present study aimed at isolation characterization and evaluation of electrogenic bacteria for electricity generation using waste water. In this context, waste water samples were collected from University of Nizwa waste water treatment plant. A total of eight distinct bacterial isolates were isolated from these samples by serial dilution and plating on LB Agar medium. The bacterial isolates were than grown at different temperatures and pH. DNA from bacterial samples was isolated and 16S rRNA gene amplification was carried out. The 16S rRNA gene PCR products were directly sequenced and the resulting sequence was blasted using BLASTn. Based on BLAST results, the bacterial strains were identified. The bacteria were used in different combinations to generate electricity from waste water in microbial fuel cells constructed using plastic bottles. The microbial isolates were found to produce varying levels of currents and their electrogenic potential in waste water was observed to increase with the passage of time.

In-Cell Nanoelectronics:Opening the Door to Intracellular Electrophysiology

Establishing a reliable electrophysiological recording platform is crucial for cardiology and neuroscience research.Noninvasive and label-free planar multitransistors and multielectrode arrays are conducive to perform the large-scale cellular electrical activity recordings,but the signal attenua-tion limits these extracellular devices to record subthreshold activities.In recent decade,in-cell nanoelectronics have been rapidly developed to open the door to intracellular electrophysi-ology.With the unique three-dimensional nanotopography and advanced penetration strategies,high-throughput and high-fidelity action potential like signal recordings is expected to be realized.This review summarizes in-cell nanoelectronics from versatile nano-biointerfaces,penetration strategies,active/pas-sive nanodevices,systematically analyses the applications in electrogenic cells and especially evaluates the influence of nanodevices on the high-quality intracellular electrophysiological signals.Further,the opportunities,challenges and broad prospects of in-cell nanoelectronics are prospected,expecting to promote the development of in-cell electrophysiological platforms to meet the demand of theoretical investigation and clinical application.

Electrogenerative leaching for sphalerite-MnO_2 in the presence of Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

A dual cell system was used to study the electrogenerative leaching sphalerite-MnO2 in the presence and absence of Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans (A. thiooxidans). The polarization of anode and cathode, and the relationship between the electric quantity (Q) and some factors, such as the dissolved rate of Zn2+ and Fe2+, and the time in the bio-electro-generating simultaneous leaching (BEGL) and electro-generating simultaneous leaching (EGL) were studied. A three-electrode system was applied to studying anodic and cathodic self-corrosion current, which was inappreciable compared with the galvanic current between sphalerite and MnO2. The results show that the dissolved Zn2+ in the presence of A. thiooxidans is nearly 43% higher than that in the absence of A. thiooxidans; the electrogenerative quantity in the former is about 150% more than that in the latter. The accumulated sulfur on the surface of sulfides produced in the electrogenerative leaching process can be oxidized in the presence of A. thiooxidans, and the ratio of biologic electric quantity reaches 27.9% in 72 h.