Abstract

The extracellular appendages of bacteria (flagella) that involve in transfer of

electron to the electrode are termed as bacterial nanowires. We focus on the isolation and
separation of nanowires attached with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (log and stationary
phase) bacterial culture. Two different shearing methods viz., sonicator and magnetic
stirrer were followed to obtain bacterial nanowires. We observed through AFM (Atomic
Force Microscope) that the sonicator shearing method obtained a clear image of bacterial
nanowires whereas, magnetic stirrer method yield broken bacterial cells and flagella. In
the present study, the conductivity of metal oxide nanoparticles (CuO, NiO and ZnO)
coated bacterial nanowires was investigated. Metal oxide nanoparticles were synthesized
using a simple chemical method and were characterized using UV- visible
spectrophotometer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction
(XRD), AFM, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission
electron microscope (HR-TEM). The prepared metal oxide nanoparticles were spherical
in shape and the average size of the metal oxide nanoparticles was calculated as below 5
nm. The composite of metal oxide nanoparticles/bacterial nanowires were characterized
by structurally using HR-TEM techniques. The conductivity of the bacterial nanowires
and metal oxide nanoparticles coated bacterial nanowires were measured using cyclic
voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and electrochemical impedance
spectroscopy (ESI). Based on the electrochemical investigations, it was found that metal
oxide nanoparticles coated bacterial nanowires enhanced the conductivity of bacterial
nanowires.