A critical review on early-warning electrochemical system on microbial fuel cell-based biosensor for on-site water quality monitoring

The microbial fuel cell (MFC) sensor is a very promising self-powered self-sustainable system for early warning water quality detection. These sensors are cost-effective, biodegradable, compact in design, and portable in nature are favorable for real-time in situ water quality monitoring. This review represents the mechanism action behind the toxicity detection, optimization strategies, process parameters, role of biofilm, the role of external resistance, hydrodynamic study, and mathematical modeling for improving the performance of the sensor. Additionally, the techno-economic prospect of this MFC-based sensor and its challenges, limitations are addressed to make it economically more favorable for commercial use. The future direction is also explored based on the sensor's disadvantages and limitations. Comprehensively, this review covered all the possible directions of MFC sensor fabrication, their application, recent advancement, prospects challenges, and their possible solutions.