Light-harvesting Bioenergy: Microbial Electrosynthesis

This lecture explores the frontier of NanoBioengineering, focusing on the development of next-generation optical devices. It delves into the blurring interface between living and non-living materials, the potential of light-harvesting bioenergy, and the use of photosynthetic bacteria for photovoltaics. The lecture discusses the introduction of electron transport abilities to bacteria, the expression of Shewanella proteins in cyanobacteria, and the enhanced microbial photo-production using nanomaterials. It also covers the design of PEDOT-coated graphite electrodes, the confirmation of current production from photosynthesis, and the future directions for increasing photocurrent through bioengineering. The lecture concludes with bioengineered cyanobacteria for the food industry and E. coli for microbial fuel cells.