CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Microbial fuel cells were rediscovered twenty years ago, and now are a very activeresearch area; the reasons behind this new activity are the relatively recent discovery ofelectrogenic or electroactive bacteria, and the vision of two important practicalapplications, as wastewater treatment coupled with clean energy production and powersupply systems for isolated low power sensor devices. Although some analyticalapplications of MFCs were proposed earlier (as biochemical oxygen demand sensing),only lately a myriad or new uses of this technology are being presented by researchgroups around the world, which combine both, biological-microbiological andelectroanalytical expertise. This is the second part of a review of MFC applications inthe area of analytical sciences. In Part I a general introduction to biological basedanalytical methods, including bioassays, biosensors, MFCs design, operating principles,as well the perhaps main and earlier presented application, the use as a BOD sensor,was reviewed. In this Part II, all other proposed uses are presented and discussed.