ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to summarize the research, main obstacles, and future research directions of microbial fuel cell (MFC) sensors. The MFC can not only recycle energy, but also provide value-added products from wastewater. MFC sensor is a promising new electrochemical microbial sensor, unlike other kinds of electrochemical sensors, which applies electroactive microbes as probes. In the ideal case, the organic substrate consumption of the anode biofilm is directly transferred to the electrons and was captured by the MFC cathode, which results in the standard linear relationship between the voltage and substrate concentration. In MFC, when the organic substrate is saturated, the toxicants could inhibit substrate consumption and microbial metabolic activity. MFC sensor provides long-term stable and low maintenance solution, which is because toxic substances may influence the activity of electrogenesis microbes in the biofilm, resulting in sudden changes in voltage. The composition of the anode solution obviously has different effects on the MFC sensor sensitivity.
