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The emergence of the Internet of Things and pervasive sensor networks have generated a surge of research in energy scavenging techniques. We know well that harvesting RF, solar, or kinetic energy enables the creation of battery-free devices that can be used where frequent battery changes or dedicated power lines are impractical. One unusual yet ubiquitous source of power is soil (earth itself) - or more accurately, bacterial communities in soil. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are electrochemical cells that harness the activities of microbes that naturally occur in soil, wetlands, and wastewater. MFCs have been a topic of research in environmental engineering and microbiology for decades, but are a relatively new topic in electronics design and research. Most low-power electronics have traditionally opted for batteries, RF energy, or solar cells. This is changing, however, as the limitations and costs of these energy sources hamper our ability to deploy useful systems that last for decades in challenging environments. If large-scale, long-term applications like underground infrastructure monitoring, smart farming, and sensing for conservation are to be possible, we must rethink the energy source. 

Hydrogel-encapsulated catalysts are an attractive tool for low-cost intensification of (bio)-processes. Polyvinyl alcohol-sodium alginate hydrogels crosslinked with boric acid and post-cured with sulfate (PVA-SA-BS) have been applied in bioproduction and water treatment processes, but the low pH required for crosslinking may negatively affect biocatalyst functionality. Here, we investigate how crosslinking pH (3, 4, and 5) and time (1, 2, and 8 h) affect the physicochemical, elastic, and process properties of PVA-SA-BS beads. Overall, bead properties were most affected by crosslinking pH. Beads produced at pH 3 and 4 were smaller and contained larger internal cavities, while optical coherence tomography suggested polymer cross-linking density was higher. Optical coherence elastography revealed PVA-SA-BS beads produced at pH 3 and 4 were stiffer than pH 5 beads. Dextran Blue release showed that pH 3-produced beads enabled higher diffusion rates and were more porous. Last, over a 28-day incubation, pH 3 and 4 beads lost more microspheres (as cell proxies) than beads produced at pH 5, while the latter released more polymer material. Overall, this study provides a path forward to tailor PVA-SA-BS hydrogel bead properties towards a broad range of applications, such as chemical, enzymatic, and microbially catalyzed (bio)-processes.

 

Morphological parameters are commonly used to predict transport and metabolic kinetics in biofilms. Yet, quantification of biofilm morphology remains challenging because of imaging technology limitations and lack of robust analytical approaches. We present a novel set of imaging and image analysis techniques to estimate internal porosity, pore size distributions, and pore network connectivity to a depth of 1 mm at a resolution of 10 µm in a biofilm exhibiting both heterotrophic and nitrifying activities. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans revealed an extensive pore network with diameters as large as 110 µm directly connected to the biofilm surface and surrounding fluid. Thin‐section fluorescence in situ hybridization microscopy revealed that ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria (AOB) distributed through the entire thickness of the biofilm. AOB were particularly concentrated in the biofilm around internal pores. Areal porosity values estimated from OCT scans were consistently lower than those estimated from multiphoton laser scanning microscopy, though the two imaging modalities showed a statistically significant correlation (r = 0.49,p < 0.0001). Estimates of areal porosity were moderately sensitive to gray‐level threshold selection, though several automated thresholding algorithms yielded similar values to those obtained by manually thresholding performed by a panel of environmental engineering researchers (±25% relative error). These findings advance our ability to quantitatively describe the geometry of biofilm internal pore networks at length scales relevant to engineered biofilm reactors and suggest that internal pore structures provide crucial habitat for nitrifier growth.