Sustainable power production from plant-mediated microbial fuel cells

The diverse capacity of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) lies in the catabolization of complex/simple organic substrates into electricity with the aid of microbial communities and their interactions. One of the most promising types is plant-based MFCs (P-MFCs), whose benefits allow direct generation of electricity while growing the plants. Since a decade, P-MFCs have been intensively researched and developed, leading to an expansion of their functionalities and improvements in their performance, employing cost-effective materials. The power densities have been amplified mainly due to improvements in the setup construction, operation, and materials, which overcome the system restrictions. Moreover, P-MFCs could be operated with a nitrogen removal system incorporated into the cathodic electron acceptor, which would represent some advantages compared with oxygen as the final terminal electron acceptor. Accordingly, P-MFCs might be a future energy-efficient and economical solution for sustainable agriculture processes and wetland-based wastewater treatment methods. This chapter presents the technologies available in MFCs with a summary of their merits and feasible applications in the near future. Plant-mediated bioelectricity will be an alternative source of generating power throughout the world.