A study of how mediators might interact with the catabolic pathways of yeast was undertaken with a view towards improving the performance of microbial fuel cells. This work suggests that no single mediator is ideally suited to the task, and that a carefully selected mixture of two targeted mediators (Methylene Blue and Neutral Red) might be optimal. To test this hypothesis a yeast-catalyzed microbial fuel cell was built and empirically evaluated under different mediation conditions. The results clearly show that a judicious mix of the two mediators can indeed achieve significantly superior performance, in terms of power-density, than when either mediator is used singly at the same overall concentration.
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