Bacterial-Inorganic Hybrid Materials
Abstract
Microbial electrochemical systems, based on electrogenic bacteria, are of increasing interest fortheir exciting potential in biorem""ediation, biosynthesis, and bioenergy generation. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) also represent a promising approach for sustainable en"ergy and harness power from using metabolic activity of microorganism to convert the chemical energy into electrical energy. However", the practical application of MFCs or microbial electrochemical systems has beenseverely limited by a major technical issue - thei""r low power densities. To harness the microbial systems for efficient bioenergy generation, effective technical approaches need to b""e developed and advanced to promote the power output of MFC.Here, we propose to tackle the challenge by fundamentally and systemat"ically exploring thesynthesis of novel bacteria-inorganic hybrid materials to increase the MFC power output to a practically releva"nt level. We will systematically explore the potential use of microbial-inorganic hybrid system as a novel type of biomaterial, and"" seek for the enhancement of their electrochemical performance. Specifically, we intend to: (1) use inorganic nanomaterials (semicon""ductor ormetallic nanoparticles, or fullerene/carbon nanotubes/graphene) to functionalize the modelmicrobes (Shewanella onedensis"" MR-1 and Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA) and eventually todevelop a Bacteria-inorganic hybrid biomaterial, through either co-culture" approaches by in situ reduction of semiconductor or metal onto or self-assembly with the bacteria; (2) use novel in situ microscopi"c imaging techniques to investigate the attachment, nucleation, growth, and assembly of inorganic nanomaterials on the living microb"ial template cells and to provide fundamentalguidelines for better preparation of bacteria-inorganic hybrid biomaterials with contr"olled composition, morphology, and position; (3) design and optimize the assembly of hybrid biomaterials into electrode in a fuel ce"ll device for high efficient MFC development; (4) explore various potential approaches for harvesting the bioenergy from the bacteri"a-inorganic hybrid system, using primary results from the fundamental on-chip studies of Shewanella and Geobacter for their conducti""ve and electron transfer mechanisms.Our group has vast experience across biomaterials, chemistry, electrical device engineering, i"maging and materials science. This unique combination of expertise brings a new set of capabilities into the field of biogenic-non-biogenic hybrid material system and places us in aunique position to carry out the proposed studies. A successful conduct of the pro"posed studies will lead to the development of a new class of bio-materials, elucidation of the fundamental mechanism governing the c""harge transport and other interactions across the bacteria-inorganic interfaces, and establishment of the important intellectual und"erpinnings for engineering highly efficient microbial assemblies to greatly improve the efficiency and power output of MFC systems. The development of highly efficient bacteria-inorganic hybrid bio-materials can also offer a more efficient pathwayto extended power generation for extended naval operations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jun 09, 2017
- Source ID
- N000141712608
Entities
People
- Yu Huang
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California, Los Angeles