Thermally activated long range electron transport in living biofilms

Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2015 Dec 28;17(48):32564-70. doi: 10.1039/c5cp05152e. Epub 2015 Nov 27.

Abstract

Microbial biofilms grown utilizing electrodes as metabolic electron acceptors or donors are a new class of biomaterials with distinct electronic properties. Here we report that electron transport through living electrode-grown Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms is a thermally activated process with incoherent redox conductivity. The temperature dependency of this process is consistent with electron-transfer reactions involving hemes of c-type cytochromes known to play important roles in G. sulfurreducens extracellular electron transport. While incoherent redox conductivity is ubiquitous in biological systems at molecular-length scales, it is unprecedented over distances it appears to occur through living G. sulfurreducens biofilms, which can exceed 100 microns in thickness.

MeSH terms

  • Biofilms*
  • Electric Conductivity
  • Electron Transport
  • Geobacter / metabolism
  • Temperature