Microbial Fuel Cells for Bioenergy, Bioremediation and Bioproducts

Dear Colleagues,

With the rapid growth of the global economy and development of industrialization and urbanization, the environmental and ecological issues faced by human society are becoming more and more serious. Reducing the environmental impact during fossil energy utilization and decreasing the energy consumption during environmental restoration has attracted the extensive attention of researchers in the past few decades. In line with the energy and environmental challenges, microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology has delivered an appropriate and environmentally friendly approach to treating wastewater/contaminants with decarbonizing electricity generation, resource recovery, and value-added product synthesis at the same time. Therefore, the MFCs were proposed as a potential waste-to-energy (W2E) strategy for solving both energy and environmental crises at once.

The science behind MFCs include the electron and proton generation from the metabolic decomposition of the substrate by microbes at the anode, followed by the shuttling of these charges to the cathode for electricity generation. However, despite recent advancements, MFC research and application are limited to the laboratory scale due to low energy output, high internal resistance, and high operational costs attributed to ion exchange membranes and electrodes. Thus, to overcome the bottlenecks, a detailed analysis of microbial interactions for effective electron transfer, energy production and consumption, and application concerning MFCs’ designs, configurations, and components are required to guide future research towards advancing its practical applications.

The main purpose of this Special Issue is to assemble original research papers and reviews highlighting the importance of scientific approaches in order to discuss the most recent state-of-the-art information on MFC architecture, design, components, electrode materials, and anodic exoelectrogens to enhance MFC performance and reduce the cost for providing novel directions for microbial electrochemical technologies. Additionally, continued progress is expected on multiple fronts in advancing the current technology, further improving its potential for wider commercial and industrial applications.

Prof. Dr. Xiaoyu Yong
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fermentation is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• microbial fuel cells (MFCs)
• exoelectrogens
• extracellular electron transfer
• electroactive biofilms
• bioenergy and resource recovery from waste
• value-added chemical bioelectrosynthesis
• environmental bioelectrochemistry
• bio-hybrids
• bio-electro-fenton