The world is confronting a significant energy crisis driven by escalating demands from global population growth and industrialization, coupled with the limited availability of conventional energy resources (i.e., non-renewable fossil fuels). In response to these challenges, electroactive bacteria have gained great attention for their unique ability to conduct extracellular electron transfer (EET), allowing microbes to convert chemical energy into electrical energy by exchanging electrons with extracellular metal-containing minerals or artificial electrodes. The development of microbial energy technologies represents a promising avenue for sustainable and renewable energy sources. These technologies offer reliability, cleanliness, and minimal production of toxic byproducts, or even non-toxic ones, compared to conventional energy sources. Embracing and advancing these microbial energy technologies not only holds potential to address current energy shortages but also aligns with global efforts towards sustainable development and reducing environmental impacts associated with energy production.
The Park lab aims to elucidate the mechanism of bacterial extracellular electron transfer and to optimize the functionality for its applications in bioenergy. We will investigate the fundamental mechanisms of electron transfer both in vitro and in living bacterial systems using quantitative single-molecule and single-cell imaging approaches, and apply the resulting insights to enhance electron transfer efficiency, including through integration with nanomaterials, toward advanced biotechnological applications such as microbial fuel cells.