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.