Challenges and Opportunities of Using Functional Materials To Inspire Anaerobic Biotechnology

The incorporation of functional materials into anaerobic biological systems offers promising opportunities for sustainable and efficient wastewater treatment. However, there is a discrepancy between the explosive growth of emerging materials and their limited environmental applications. In this Perspective, we summarize two main functional materials that could enhance environmental biotechnology according to their energy sources. The first type, “internal functional materials”, facilitates interspecies interactions and stimulates metabolic processes. The second type, “external functional materials”, mediates the exchange with external energy. We discuss the mechanisms of enhancing interspecies and extracellular electron transfer, which largely determine the microbial metabolism of substance and energy. We reflect on the remaining challenges in bringing functional materials to practical applications and clarify the potential suitable scenarios based on the properties of these materials. In the future, designing new functional materials using artificial-intelligence-driven models should necessitate identifying specific microbial metabolic mechanisms. This Perspective highlights innovative use of internal and external functional materials to boost microbial activity and electron transfer. It also provides an intuitive interpretation for the rational design of functional materials to address the urgent need for materials in large-scale engineering applications.