Carbon nanofiber-based electrode interface to microbial biofilms

We report the fabrication and characterization of a carbon nanofiber-based electrochemical interface to microbial biofilms. Interdigitated electrode systems, comprised of 2 mum wide electrodes populated with forests of vertically-aligned carbon nanofibers, were developed to provide scaffolding, electrical stimuli, and measurement of metabolites around and within a suspended bacterial biofilm matrix. The presence of nanofiber forests upon these electrodes provides large, electrochemically active surface areas, resulting in high current densities during electroanalyses. The vertical aspect of nanofibers provides basis for interrogation around and within biofilm matrices, via potential penetration of nanofiber elements into the biomass. Fibered electrodes were characterized electrochemically using standard analytes and were employed as scaffolding to grow biofilms of various e. coli strains featuring bioluminescent gene-reporting constructs.