Biological fuel cells: Divergence of opinion

Sergey Shleev (1) , Alain Bergel (2) , Lo Gorton (3)

1 Malmö Högskola = Malmö University
2 LGC - Laboratoire de Génie Chimique
3 Skane University Hospital [Lund]

Biofuel cell research has attracted considerable attention over the last decade, e.g., according to “The Web of Science” the number of publications per year in this area has been continuously increasing from 108 in 2004 to 1782 in 2014. In this short communication written in a provocative manner we, the guest editors of this Special Issue of Bioelectrochemistry devoted to biofuel cells, try to overstress the differences in current viewpoints in order to emphasize existing problems rather than just describe current opinion and praise to the skies perceived outstanding achievements, though these definitely exist in the field of bioelectrochemistry in general, and biological fuel cell research in particular. Emphasis on problems and disagreements can help push the field even further, resulting in a better understanding of the fundamental principles of the operation of biocatalysts. We do also believe that provoking the scientific community brings us much more closer to the final end point of all our research, i.e., general (large-scale) usage of “green” renewable biodevices for electric power generation and possibly even for concomitant storage of electric energy (vide infra).

Mots clés: Biofuel cell; Microbial electrochemical systems

Domaines: Génie chimique; Génie des procédés

Sergey Shleev, Alain Bergel, Lo Gorton. Biological fuel cells: Divergence of opinion. Bioelectrochemistry, 2015, 106, pp.1-2. ⟨10.1016/j.bioelechem.2015.07.006⟩. ⟨hal-01922012⟩