Microbial Electrolysis Cells for High Yield Hydrogen Gas Production from Organic Matter
Open accessAbstract
The use of electrochemically active bacteria to break down organic matter, combined with the addition of a small voltage (> 0.2 V in practice) in specially designed microbial electrolysis cells (MECs), can result in a high yield of hydrogen gas. While microbial electrolysis was invented only a few years ago, rapid developments have led to hydrogen yields approaching 100%, energy yields based on electrical energy input many times greater than that possible by water electrolysis, and increased gas production rates. MECs used to make hydrogen gas are similar in design to microbial fuel cells (MFCs) that produce electricity, but there are important differences in architecture and analytical methods used to evaluate performance. We review here the materials, architectures, performance, and energy efficiencies of these MEC systems that show promise as a method for renewable and sustainable energy production, and wastewater treatment.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
On conventional bio-anode materials in MECs such as carbon cloth (CC) and carbon fiber (CF), the oxidation of organic species occurs with sluggish kinetics, leading to relatively low current densities and poor electron transfer to the cathode.
“On conventional bio-anode materials in MECs such as carbon cloth (CC) and carbon fiber (CF) [15e18], the oxidation of organic species occurs with sluggish kinetics, leading to relatively low current densities and poor electron transfer to the cathode [3].”
From Self-supported microbial carbon aerogel bioelectrocatalytic anode promoting extracellular electron transfer for efficient hydrogen evolution (2019) · cites this paper as [3]
Cites
Energy conservation in chemotrophic anaerobic bacteria
Thauer, R. K., Jungermann, K., & Decker, K. (1977) · Bacteriological Reviews · doi:10.1128/br.41.1.100-180.1977 · Cited by 4,146 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ghimire, A., Frunzo, L., Pirozzi, F., Trably, E., Escudie, R., Lens, P. N. L., & Esposito, G. (2015) · Applied Energy · doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.01.045 · Cited by 1,027 · see citing works
Remediation of wastewater using various nano-materials
Anjum, M., Miandad, R., Waqas, M., Gehany, F., & Barakat, M. A. (2019) · Arabian Journal of Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.arabjc.2016.10.004 · Cited by 779 · see citing works
Steinbusch, K. J. J., Hamelers, H. V. M., Plugge, C. M., & Buisman, C. J. N. (2011) · Energy Environ. Sci. · doi:10.1039/c0ee00282h · Cited by 453 · see citing works
Self-citationHou, Y., Zhang, B., Wen, Z., Cui, S., Guo, X., He, Z., & Chen, J. (2014) · J. Mater. Chem. A · doi:10.1039/c4ta02254h · Cited by 221 · see citing works
Moscoviz, R., Trably, E., Bernet, N., & Carrère, H. (2018) · Green Chemistry · doi:10.1039/c8gc00572a · Cited by 171 · see citing works
Leng, L., Yang, L., Chen, J., Hu, Y., Li, H., Li, H., Jiang, S., Peng, H., Yuan, X., & Huang, H. (2021) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126238 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Wang, W.-K., Tang, B., Liu, J., Shi, H., Xu, Q., & Zhao, G. (2019) · Electrochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2019.02.099 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
- Authors
- Logan, B. E., Call, D., Cheng, S., Hamelers, H. V. M., Sleutels, T. H. J. A., Jeremiasse, A. W., & Rozendal, R. A.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Logan, Bruce E.
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2008-11-01
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 23
- Pages
- 8630-8640
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W2036828920
- Cited by
- 1,368
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 79 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 80 · 2023: 70 · 2022: 97 · 2021: 96 · 2020: 104 · 2019: 112 · 2018: 86 · 2017: 92 · 2016: 83 · 2015: 79 · 2014: 74 · 2013: 56 · 2012: 51
- FWCI
- 46.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.wur.nl
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion)
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Repository (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- European Commission
- Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
- National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate
- European Regional Development Fund
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Microbial Fuel Cells and Bioremediation
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Production
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Fuel Cells and Related Materials
- Keywords
- microbial electrolysis cells, hydrogen production, electrochemically active bacteria, organic matter decomposition, microbial fuel cells, energy efficiency, wastewater treatment, renewable energy
- MeSH terms
- Bacteria, Electrolysis, Energy-Generating Resources, Hydrogen, Organic Chemicals, Thermodynamics
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
