Abstract
Objective
To fabricate a novel microbial photobioelectrochemical cell using silicon microfabrication techniques.
Results
High-density photosynthetic cells were immobilized in a microfluidic chamber, and ultra-microelectrodes in a microtip array were inserted into the cytosolic space of the cells to directly harvest photosynthetic electrons. In this way, the microbial photobioelectrochemical cell operated without the aid of electron mediators. Both short circuit current and open circuit voltage of the microbial photobioelectrochemical cell responded to light stimuli, and recorded as high as 250 pA and 45 mV, respectively.
Conclusion
A microbial photobioelectrochemical cell was fabricated with potential use in next-generation photosynthesis-based solar cells and sensors.
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Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korea government(Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning) (2014R1A2A1A11054042) and the Ministry of Environment under the Environment Convergence Technology Project (2012000670001).
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Ha, JG., Song, Y.S., Jung, S. et al. Novel microbial photobioelectrochemical cell using an invasive ultramicroelectrode array and a microfluidic chamber. Biotechnol Lett 39, 849–855 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-017-2307-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-017-2307-4