title: Enhancing Signal Output and Avoiding BOD/Toxicity Combined Shock Interference by Operating a Microbial Fuel Cell Sensor with an Optimized Background Concentration of Organic Matter.
abstract: In the monitoring of pollutants in an aquatic environment, it is important to preserve water quality safety. Among the available analysis methods, the microbial fuel cell (MFC) sensor has recently been used as a sustainable and on-line electrochemical microbial biosensor for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and toxicity, respectively. However, the effect of the background organic matter concentration on toxicity monitoring when using an MFC sensor is not clear and there is no effective strategy available to avoid the signal interference by the combined shock of BOD and toxicity. Thus, the signal interference by the combined shock of BOD and toxicity was systematically studied in this experiment. The background organic matter concentration was optimized in this study and it should be fixed at a high level of oversaturation for maximizing the signal output when the current change (ΔI) is selected to correlate with the concentration of a toxic agent. When the inhibition ratio (IR) is selected, on the other hand, it should be fixed as low as possible near the detection limit for maximizing the signal output. At least two MFC sensors operated with high and low organic matter concentrations and a response chart generated from pre-experiment data were both required to make qualitative distinctions of the four types of combined shock caused by a sudden change in BOD and toxicity.
authors: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. jiangyong13@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors: Yong
authors: Y
authors: Jiang
authors: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. liangpeng@tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors: Peng
authors: P
authors: Liang
authors: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. liuxin8906@gmail.com.
authors: Panpan
authors: P
authors: Liu
authors: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. byh13@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors: Yanhong
authors: Y
authors: Bian
authors: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. mb15@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors: Bo
authors: B
authors: Miao
authors: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. sun-xl14@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors: Xueliang
authors: X
authors: Sun
authors: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. hlzhang1126@gmail.com.
authors: Helan
authors: H
authors: Zhang
authors: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. xhuang@tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors: Xia
authors: X
authors: Huang
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D062065:Wastewater
keywords: biosensor; microbial fuel cell; signal interference; toxicity