Reading the ground : understanding the response of bioelectric microbes to anthropogenic compounds in soil based terrestrial microbial fuel cells

Abstract

Electrogenic bacteria produce power in soil based terrestrial microbial fuel cells (tMFCs) by growing on electrodes and transferring electrons released from the breakdown of substrates. The direction and magnitude of voltage production is hypothesized to be dependent on the available substrates. A sensor technology was developed for compounds indicative of anthropological activity by exposing tMFCs to gasoline, petroleum, 2,4-dinitrotoluene, fertilizer, and urea. A machine learning classifier was trained to identify compounds based on the voltage patterns. After 5 to 10 days, the mean voltage stabilized (+/- 0.5 mV). After the entire incubation, voltage ranged from -59.1 mV to 631.8 mV, with the tMFCs containing urea and gasoline producing the highest (624 mV) and lowest (-9 mV) average voltage, respectively. The machine learning algorithm effectively discerned between gasoline, urea, and fertilizer with greater than 94% accuracy, demonstrating that this technology could be successfully operated as an environmental sensor for change detection.

Key findings

• ▸tMFCs containing urea and gasoline produced the highest (624 mV) and lowest (-9 mV) average voltage, respectively.
• ▸The mean voltage stabilized after 5-10 days (+/- 0.5 mV).
• ▸Voltage ranged from -59.1 mV to 631.8 mV after the entire incubation.

Keywords

Identifiers

DOI

10.21079/11681/49639

Journal

Unknown journal

Year

2025