Renewable energy driving microbial electrochemistry toward carbon neutral

Microbe-electrode interacted microbial electrochemical systems (MESs) encompasing (electro)microbiology, electrochemistry, and material science, play an ever-increasing role in waste(water) treatment and resource recovery, which are perceived as eco-friendly and bioderived carbon-neutral catalysis technologies. However, external electricity input to drive the microbial metabolism in MESs can be expensive or not environmentally friendly, hampering the broader development of MESs. This perspective summarizes present renewable electricity sources from microbial full cells, salinity gradients, and solar light that have been demonstrated to drive MESs, followed by underexploited renewable power supplies from waste heat, self-powered triboelectric nanogenerators (mechanical energy harvester), etc. Future directions emphasizing electromicrobiology for MESs toward carbon-neutral are remarked.