Electrochemical Microbial Technology: An Effective Strategy for Contaminants Remediation or Resource Recycling

Electrochemical systems are expected to be an ecologically sustainable solution for meeting future energy needs because of their combined benefits of pollutant degradation and resource recovery. Microbial electrochemical technology, in particular, has the potential to not only cut construction costs and increase system stability but also to use microbe metabolism to decompose a variety of difficult-to-degrade contaminants. Many emerging materials and chemicals are continuously developed and used in tandem with advances in scientific and technological innovation. However, the environmental pollution and human health issues produced by their release into the environment should be considered, especially on potential ecological and environmental risks. Despite the low levels released into the environment, some of the contaminants can pose a major threat to human health and ecosystem stability due to their bioaccumulation effects. Because of its benefits of high efficiency, green environment, and low cost, electrochemical technology, particularly bioelectrochemical remediation, has gotten a lot of attention from researchers in recent years.

This Research Topic focuses on using electrochemical technologies to degrade pollutants in the environment or recover resources in the removal process. Studies reporting the combination of traditional remediation using microbial electrochemical technology and other advanced technologies (e.g., phyto-combined microbial remediation, photoelectric combined bioremediation technology) are welcomed. We encourage the contributors to investigate the mechanism of electrochemical remediation, explore the interface effect between microorganisms and pollutants and the surrounding environment, and interpret the degradation process in the engineered systems in their manuscripts. For resource reclamation, the mechanism of the reclaiming process needs to be studied as well as the extent of microbial contribution to the reclamation of pollutants is discussed. The application of assorted emerging electrochemical technologies in the degradation of environmental pollutants individually or combination is concerned.

This Research Topic accepts hypothesis-driven Original Research Articles and Reviews. Please note that research based sorely on 'omics' approaches will not be reviewed in this section. The themes may include but are not limited to:

1. The process of remediation of environmental pollutants by electrochemical technologies

2. Electrochemical technologies-driven pollutant transfer and transformation

3. Material and energy exchange in the interface between microorganisms and pollutants

4. Rapid detection and analysis strategies of pollutants by using electrochemical technologies

5. Substance transformation and energy recovery technologies