Chemicals used in commonly-used consumer items can contaminate water and pose a threat to human and ecosystem health. It is critical for society to prevent these impacts by developing effective technologies to remove these chemicals. Two promising approaches include the use of engineered biofilms (microbial aggregates growing on surfaces) and electrochemical treatment. This project is a new approach combining biofilm engineering with bioelectrochemical degradation for sustainable treatment of chemical pollutants. The focus is on engineering carbon electrodes and biofilms to degrade the contaminant bisphenol A. Results will impact other fields such as microbial electrosynthesis, biosensors, infection control, and bioelectronics. The project will train underrepresented students to participate in undergraduate research at the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Pittsburgh. Twenty middle school teachers will participate in a teacher science program. Middle school students will be hosted at the Energy Inventor Labs in Pittsburgh and the Science Camp and Research Day programs in Chicago. Together, these efforts will impact over 2,000 students to broaden participation in STEM and increase the scientific literacy of the Nation.
Bioelectrochemical systems for the degradation of emerging organic contaminants such as bisphenol A depend on a high level of biofilm control. Sustainable operation requires that conditions on the electrode surface promote the development of biofilms adapted to the suite of contaminants to be oxidized. The goal of this project is to achieve this objective by identifying and tuning the optimal carbon electrode morphology for biofilm-electrode formation for optimal organic waste decomposition. Biofilm formation and organic compound degradation via increased electron transfer are often governed by electrode morphology and biofilm-electrode interactions. We will investigate the effects of electrode morphology on biofilm-electrode performance by connecting the physical and electrochemical properties of different carbon electrodes for robust and conductive biofilm formation, optimizing biofilm-electrode performance via microbial engineering, and integrating biological degradation pathways of organic contaminants into the bioelectrochemical systems. This project will provide a novel understanding of biofilm-electrode interactions by studying electrode morphology and microbial engineering simultaneously, which should lead to a new design framework for bioelectrochemical systems. The project will have an extensive education and outreach program of undergraduate research, K-12 teacher training, and middle school student science programs in Pittsburgh and Chicago. Together, these efforts will impact over 2,000 students to broaden participation in STEM and increase the scientific literacy of the Nation.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
