Abstract
Biophotovoltaic methods rely on the fact that photosynthetic microorganisms, like many others, can export small amounts of electric current. For photosynthetic organisms, this current usually increases on illumination. This “exoelectrogenic” property may be of biotechnological interest, and may also provide useful experimental insights into the physiological status of the cell. We describe how to construct biophotovoltaic devices, and the kinds of measurements that are typically made.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Logan BE, Hamelers B, Rozendal R, Schroeder U, Keller J, Freguia S, Aelterman P, Verstraete W, Rabaey K (2006) Microbial fuel cells: methodology and technology. Environ Sci Technol 40:5181–5192
Zou Y, Pisciotta J, Billmyre RB, Baskakov IV (2009) Photosynthetic microbial fuel cells with positive light response. Biotechnol Bioeng 104:939–946
Pisciotta JM, Zou Y, Baskakov IV (2011) Role of the photosynthetic electron transfer chain in electrogenic activity of cyanobacteria. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 91:377–385
Sokol KP, Mersch D, Hartmann V, Zhang JZ, Nowaczyk MM, Rogner M, Ruff A, Schuhmann W, Plumere N, Reisner E (2016) Rational wiring of photosystem II hierarchical indium tin oxide electrodes using redox polymers. Energy Environ Sci 9:3698–3709
McCormick AJ, Bombelli P, Scott AM, Philips AJ, Smith AG, Fisher AC, Howe CJ (2011) Photosynthetic biofilms in pure culture harness solar energy in a mediatorless bio-photovoltaic cell (BPV) system. Energy Environ Sci 4:4699–4709
Bombelli P, Bradley RW, Scott AM, Philips AJ, McCormick AJ, Cruz SM, Anderson A, Yunus K, Bendall DS, Cameron PJ, Davies JM, Smith AG, Howe CJ, Fisher AC (2011) Quantitative analysis of the factors limiting solar power transduction by Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 in biological photovoltaic devices. Energy Environ Sci 4:4690–4698
Gorby YA, Yanina S, McLean JS, Rosso KM, Moyles D, Dohnalkova A, Beveridge TJ, Chang I, Hong Kim B, Shik Kim K, Culley DE, Reed SB, Romine MF, Saffarini DA, Hill EA, Shi L, Elias DA, Kennedy DW, Pinchuk G, Watanabe K, Ishii S, Logan BE, Nealson KH, Fredrickson JK (2006) Electrically conductive bacterial nanowires produced by Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1 and other microorganisms. PNAS 103(30):11358–11363
Sure S, Ackland ML, Torriero AAJ, Adholeya A, Kochar M (2016) Microbial nanowires: an electrifying tale. Microbiology 162:2017–2028
McCormick AJ, Bombelli P, Lea-Smith DJ, Bradley RW, Scott AM, Fisher AC, Smith AG, Howe CJ (2013) Hydrogen production through oxygenic photosynthesis using the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 in a bio-photoelectrolysis cell (BPE) system. Energy Environ Sci 6:2682–2690
Pinhassi RI, Kallmann D, Saper G, Dotan H, Linkov A, Kay A, Liveanu V, Schuster G, Adir N, Rothschild A (2016) Hybrid bio-photo-electro-chemical cells for solar water splitting. Nat Commun 7:12552
Bombelli P, Muller T, Herling TW, Howe CJ, Knowles TPJ (2015) A high power-density, mediator-free, microfluidic biophotovoltaic device for cyanobacterial cells. Adv Energy Mater 5:1410229
McCormick AJ, Bombelli P, Bradley RW, Thorne R, Wenzel T, Howe CJ (2015) Biophotovoltaics: oxygenic photosynthetic organisms in the world of bioelectrochemical systems. Energy Environ Sci 8:1092–1109
Anderson A, Laohavisit A, Blaby IK, Howe CJ, Merchant SS, Davies JM, Smith AG (2015) Exploiting algal NADPH oxidase for biophotovoltaic energy. Plant Biotechnol J 14:22–28
Laohavisit A, Anderson A, Bombelli P, Jacobs M, Howe CJ, Davies JM, Smith AG (2015) Enhancing plasma membrane NADPH oxidase activity increases current output by diatoms in biophotovoltaic devices. Algal Res 12:91–98
Darus L, Ledezma P, Keller J, Freguia S (2016) Marine phototrophic consortia transfer electrons to electrodes in response to reductive stress. Photosynth Res 127:347–354
Wei X, Lee H, Choi S (2016) Biopower generation in a microfluidic bio-solar panel. Sensors Actuators B 228:151–155
Wu Y, Xiao Y, Wang Z, Zhao F (2016) Performance of bioelectrochemical systems inoculated with Desmodesmus sp. A8 under different light sources. Biorem J 20:233–239
Bradley RW, Bombelli P, Lea-Smith DJ, Howe CJ (2013) Terminal oxidase mutants of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 show increased electrogenic activity in biological photo-voltaic systems. Phys Chem Chem Phys 15:13611–13618
Ng FL, Phang SM, Periasamy V, Yunus K, Fisher AC (2014) Evaluation of algal biofilms on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) for use in biophotovoltaic platforms based on photosynthetic performance. PLoS One 9:e97643
Hasan K, Grippo V, Sperling E, Packer MA, Leech D, Gorton L (2017) Evaluation of photocurrent generation from different photosynthetic organisms. ChemElectroChem 4:412–417
Cereda A, Hitchcock A, Symes MD, Cronin L, Bibby TS, Jones AK (2014) A bioelectrochemical approach to characterize extracellular electron transfer by Synechocystis sp PCC6803. PLoS One 9:e91484
Rippka R, Deruelles J, Waterbury JB, Herdman M, Stanier RY (1979) Generic assignments, strain histories and properties of pure cultures of cyanobacteria. J Gen Microbiol 111:1–61
Porra RJ, Thompson WA, Kriedemann PE (1989) Determination of accurate extinction coefficients and simultaneous equations for assaying chlorophylls a and b extracted with four different solvents: verification of the concentration of chlorophyll standards by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Biochim Biophys Acta 975:384–394
Bombelli P, Zarrouati M, Thorne RJ, Schneider K, Rowden SJL, Ali A, Yunus K, Cameron PJ, Fisher AC, Wilson DI, Howe CJ, McCormick AJ (2012) Surface morphology and surface energy of anode materials influence power outputs in a multi-channel mediatorless bio-photovoltaic (BPV) system. Phys Chem Chem Phys 14:12221–12229
Bard AJ, Faulkner LR (2000) Electrochemical methods: fundamentals and applications, 2nd edn. Wiley, ISBN: 0-471-04372-9
Hall DO, Rao KK (1999) Photosynthesis, 6th edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN: 0-521-64497-6
Acknowledgments
CJH and PB thank the Leverhulme Trust for financial support. SJLR thanks the European Commission (EU KBBE.2013.3.2-02 programme, D-Factory: 368 613870) for financial support. We thank Mr. Pavel Artemov for designing Fig. 3.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Rowden, S.J.L., Bombelli, P., Howe, C.J. (2018). Biophotovoltaics: Design and Study of Bioelectrochemical Systems for Biotechnological Applications and Metabolic Investigation. In: Covshoff, S. (eds) Photosynthesis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1770. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7786-4_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7786-4_20
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-7785-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-7786-4
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols