Enrichment of Electrochemically Active Bacteria Using a Three-ElectrodeElectrochemical Cell

Electrochemically active bacteria were successfullyenriched in an electrochemical cell using a positively poisedworking electrode. The positively poised working electrode(+0.7 V vsenrichment and growth of electrochemically active bacteria.When activated sludge and synthetic wastewater were fed tothe electrochemical cel, a gradual increase in amperometriccurrent was observed. After a period of time in which theamperometric curent was stabilized (generaly 8 days), linearcorrelations between the amperometric signals from theelectrochemical cell and aded BOD (biochemical oxygendemand) concentrations were established. Cyclic voltammetryof the enriched electrode also showed prominent electrochemicalelectron microscopy and confocal scanning laser microscopy,a biofilm on the enriched electrode surface and bacterium-likeparticles were observed. These experimental results indicatethat the electrochemical system in this study is a useful toolfor the enrichment of an electrochemicaly active bacterialconsortium and could be used as a novel microbial biosensor. KCI Citation Count: 7