Review: can bioelectrochemical sensors be used to monitor soil microbiome activity and fertility?

This review presents current knowledge on applying bioelectrochemical sensors to monitor soil fertility through microbial activity and discusses future perspectives. Soil microbial activity is considered an indicator of soil fertility due to the interconnected relationship between soil nutrient composition, microbiome, and plant productivity. Similarities between soils and bioelectrochemical reactors provide the foundation for the design of bioelectrochemical sensors driven by microorganisms enriched as electrochemically active biofilms on polarized electrodes. The biofilm can exchange electrons with electrodes and metabolites with the nearby microbiome to generate electrochemical signals that inform of microbiome functions and nutrient bioavailability. Such mechanisms can be harnessed as a bioelectrochemical sensor for proxy monitoring of soil fertility to address the need for real-time monitoring of soils.