In Situ and Operando Techniques for Investigating Electron Transfer in Biological Systems

Abstract

Abstract When bioelectrochemistry meets other analytical techniques for in situ experiments, new possibilities for understanding the nature of charge‐transfer reactions are provided. Despite progress in recent years in analytical instrumentation, a number of key issues remains for bioelectrochemistry, in terms of the mechanistic description of the surface reactions involved in biomolecules’ electron transfer. The main challenges of these techniques are the concomitant detection of electron transfer and molecular alteration as well as the development of suitable bioelectrodes. This review discusses the most recent and emerging in situ and operando electrochemical methods used to study biological systems such as redox proteins, nucleic acids, small biomolecules, cells, and biomembranes, focusing on electrochemical methods coupled with spectroscopic, spectrometric, and microscopic techniques.

Keywords

• biocatalysis
• electron transfer
• in situ electrochemistry
• operando electrochemistry
• spectroelectrochemistry