Microbial fuel cell-based biosensor for toxic carbon monoxide monitoring

Publication date: 15 August 2018
Source:Talanta, Volume 186
Author(s): Shaofeng Zhou, Shaobin Huang, Yi Li, Nannan Zhao, Han Li, Irini Angelidaki, Yifeng Zhang
This study presents an innovative microbial fuel cell-based biosensor for carbon monoxide (CO) monitoring. The hypothesis for the function of the biosensor is that CO inhibits bacterial activity in the anode and thereby reduces electricity production. A mature electrochemically active biofilm on the anode was exposed to CO gas at varied concentrations. A proportional linear relationship (R² = 0.987) between CO concentration and voltage drop (0.8 to 24 mV) in the range of 10% and 70% of CO concentration was observed. Notably, no further decrease of voltage output was observed by with further increasing CO concentration over 70%. Besides, the response time of the biosensor was 1 h. The compact design and simple operation of the biosensor makes it easy to be integrated in existing CO-based industrial facilities either as a forewarning sensor for CO toxicity or even as an individual on-line monitoring device.

Graphical abstract

https://ift.tt/2HQ6bkQ