Microbial reduction of graphene oxide and its application in microbial fuel cells and biophotovoltaics

Abstract

Despite more than a decade of study, there are still significant obstacles to overcome before graphene can be successfully produced on a large scale for commercial use. Chemical oxidation of graphite to produce graphene oxide (GO), followed by a subsequent reduction process to synthesize reduced graphene oxide (rGO), is considered the most practical method for mass production. Microorganisms, which are abundant in nature and inexpensive, are one of the potential green reductants for rGO synthesis. However, there is no recent review discussing the reported microbial reduction of GO in detail. To address this, we present a comprehensive review on the reduction of GO by a range of microorganisms and compared their efficacies and reaction conditions. Also, presented were the mechanisms by which microorganisms reduce GO. We also reviewed the recent advancements in using microbially reduced GO as the anode and cathode material in the microbial fuel cell (MFC) and algal biophotovoltaics (BPV), as well as the challenges and future directions in microbial fuel cell research.

Key words： reduced graphene oxide; microbial reduction; microbial fuel cell; algal biophotovoltaics; green chemistry

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

There is no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia via Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) [FRGS/1/2022/STG01/UM/03/2][FP064-2022], Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia under the Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE) Programme [IOES-2014F], UM Innovate Fund [PPSI-2020-HICOE-03] and the Research University Grant, Universiti Malaya [RU003-2022].

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