Harvesting energy of interaction between bacteria and bacteriophage in a membrane-less fuel cell

When a fuel and oxidant flow in laminar contact through a micro-fluidic channel, a sharp interface appears between the two liquids, which eliminate the need of a proton exchange membrane. This principle has been used to generate potential in a membrane-less fuel cell. This study use such a cell to harvest energy of interaction between a bacteria having negative charge on its surface and a bacteriophage with positive and negative charges on its tail and head, respectively. When Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp6) and phage (P-Kp6) are pumped through a fuel cell fitted with two copper electrodes placed at its two sides, interaction between these two charged species at the interface results in a constant open circuit potential which varies with concentration of charged species but gets generated for both specific and non-specific bacteria and phage system. Oxygenation of bacteria or phage however diminishes the potential unlike in conventional microbial fuel cells.