INVESTIGADORES
BUSALMEN juan pablo
artículos
Título:
Limitations for Current Production in Geobacter sulfurreducens Biofilms
Autor/es:
BONANNI, PABLO SEBASTIAN; BRADLEY, DANIEL; SCHROTT, GERMÁN DAVID; BUSALMEN, JUAN PABLO
Revista:
CHEMSUSCHEM
Editorial:
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
Referencias:
Lugar: Weinheim; Año: 2013 vol. 6 p. 711 - 720
ISSN:
1864-5631
Resumen:
Devices that exploit electricity produced by electroactive bacteria such as Geobacter sulfurreducens
have not yet been demonstrated beyond the laboratory scale. The current
densities are far from the maximum that the bacteria can produce
because fundamental properties such as the mechanism of extracellular
electron transport and factors limiting cell respiration remain unclear.
In this work, a strategy for the investigation of electroactive
biofilms is presented. Numerical modeling of the response of G. sulfurreducens
biofilms cultured on a rotating disk electrode has allowed for the
discrimination of different limiting steps in the process of current
production within a biofilm. The model outputs reveal that extracellular
electron transport limits the respiration rate of the cells furthest
from the electrode to the extent that cell division is not possible. The
mathematical model also demonstrates that recent findings such as the
existence of a redox gradient in actively respiring biofilms can be
explained by an electron hopping mechanism but not when considering
metallic-like conductivities.