Bioanode performance in bioelectrochemical systems: recent improvements and prospects

In a bioelectrochemical system (BES) operated with a bioanode, the anode performance plays an important part in the overall performance. Fundamental aspects of bioanodes have been intensively investigated, enabling us to better understand the growth, kinetics functioning and interactions of anodophilic microorganisms. Recently, various technological advances have improved the properties and operation of anodes and have increased bioanode performance by up to tenfold. To further boost the performance of bioanodes by several orders of magnitude, practical microbiological approaches deserve more investigation. This article reviews the factors affecting bioanode performance, the recent advances and the prospective strategies for improving it. Future application perspectives of bioanodes are also proposed.