Theoretical characterisation of electron tunnelling from granular activated carbon to electron accepting organisms in direct interspecies electron transfer.

ABSTRACT: Direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) has been identified as an efficient metabolism between symbiotically interacting organisms. One method of DIET uses conductive materials (e.g., granular activated carbon (GAC)) as a medium to shuttle electrons from electron donating organisms (eg., Geobacter metallireducens) to electron accepting organisms (e.g., Geobacter sulfurreducens and Methanosarcina barkeri). Conductive materials such as GAC, become negatively charged in DIET processes due to reduction by electron donating organisms. This high excess electron density in GAC leads to quantum tunnelling of electrons being a significant electron transfer mechanism for DIET. Thus, a theoretical model obeying the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation and Fermi-Dirac statistics was deve

SUBMITTER: Rao R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9300713 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature