Biological-Electrode Interface as the Nexus of Breakthroughs towards Viability of Microbial Electrochemical Technologies

Dear Colleagues,

Society is facing energy and climate crises which call for sustainable and cost-effective technological solutions to produce energy, chemicals, fuels, feed, and food ingredients. Microbial electrochemical technologies (MET) can valorize carbon waste to such value-added products by employing microbial catalysts that are able to interact and exchange electrons with synthetic electrodes. These living biocatalysts either oxidize organics and donate the metabolically generated electrons to an anode (e.g., microbial fuel cells, electro fermentation) or take up electrons from a cathode to reduce carbon dioxide (microbial electrosynthesis) or organics (EF) to higher-value chemicals. The biological–electrode interface is key to achieving higher productivity and energy efficiency, and thus, better integration of microbes with electrode materials must be a target. This invokes the need for more research on electroactive microorganisms and biofilms, molecular and electron transfer mechanisms, synthetic biology, advanced electrode materials synthesis, reactor design, and reactor operation optimization. These are the scopes of this Special Issue. This multidisciplinary Special Issue aims to showcase recent trends in microbial electrosynthesis, electro fermentation, and microbial electrogenesis processes. We favor contributions in the form of original research, but review articles will also be considered.

Dr. Ludovic Jourdin
Dr. Catarina M. Paquete
Dr. Igor Vassilev
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Microorganisms 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 2700 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.