Light/electricity conversion by a self-organized photosynthetic biofilm in a single-chamber reactor

Biological energy-conversion systems are attractive in terms of their self-sustaining and self-organizing nature and are expected to be applied to low-cost and environment-friendly processes. Here we show a biofilm-based light/electricity-conversion system that was self-organized from a natural microbial community. A bioreactor equipped with an air cathode and graphite-felt anode was inoculated with a green hot-spring microbial mat. When the reactor was irradiated with light, electric current was generated between the anode and cathode in accordance with the formation of green biofilm on the anode. Fluorescence microscopy of the green biofilm revealed the presence of chlorophyll-containing microbes of ∼10 μm in size, and these cells were abundant close to the surface of the biofilm. The biofilm community was also analyzed by sequencing of polymerase chain reaction-amplified small-subunit rRNA gene fragments, showing that sequence types affiliated with Chlorophyta, Betaproteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes were abundantly detected. These results suggest that green algae and heterotrophic bacteria cooperatively converted light energy into electricity.