The concept of the bacterial battery

Abstract Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has been used to characterize the electrochemical properties of Al 2024 and pure copper in Luria Bertani (LB) medium and in the same medium containing Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 (ATCC 700550). Potentiodynamic polarization curves have been used to determine the power output of the Al 2024/Cu battery in the two media. For pure Cu significant changes of the impedance spectra have been found in the presence of the bacteria. The spectra resembled those usually observed for polymer-coated metals. Another unexpected result was the increase of the cell voltage and the maximum power output of the Cu/Al 2024 cell with increasing exposure time in the presence of MR-1.