Microbial Fuel Cells as On-Line Biosensors for Pharmaceuticals in Wastewater

Every day, water systems are contaminated by thousands of different chemicals. Of increasing concern are pharmaceutical products (and their metabolites), due to their heavy use and difficulties removing them during wastewater treatment. There is therefore an urgent need to develop tools capable of detecting very low concentrations (nano/pico grams per litre) of these pollutants in water and inform on their bioactivity, especially when these pollutants are considered in a mixture.

Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) have great potential as biosensors for the monitoring of bioactive compounds in water, relying on electroactive bacteria to generate current. This work demonstrates their ability to detect several pharmaceuticals in water.