Group history - Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research

Group development at the UFZ

10/ 2024

07/ 2023

03/ 2022

12/ 2020

01/ 2019

04/ 2018

02/ 2017

06/ 2016

04/ 2015

Gruppenbild April 2015 — (C) T. Berthold

05/ 2014

07/ 2013

01/ 2013

Things started going ....

10/ 2012

All started

News

Congratulations!
We are super proud and happy that Bente D. Wagner, Susanne Stenz and Jonas P. Hübner have done their M.Sc. with us!
Special thanks to Max and John who were great day-to-day supervisors!

Dreaming about METs?
Yes, Falk does and has put his visions jointly with numerous colleagues from the EU (and one from the USA) into TRENDS in Biotechnology

Portrait of Prof. F. Harnisch Link

Paniz and Benjamin have key roles in the PhD college SmartManure

First textbook on electrochemistry for (microbial) biotechnology:

Contact

Prof. Dr. Falk Harnisch
Department Microbial Biotechnology
Working Group Electrobiotechnology
falk.harnisch@ufz.de

Phone +49 341 6025-1337
Permoserstraße 15 | 04318 Leipzig | Germany

Publications 2026

2026 (17)

Al Sbei, S., Boto, S.T., Krüger, T., Papenfort, K., Westermann, M., Jost, A., Harnisch, F., Brakhage, A.A., Rosenbaum, M.A. (2026):
Microbial electrosynthesis reshapes energy metabolism and physiology in Clostridium ljungdahlii
Microb. Biotechnol. 19 (6), e70398
10.1111/1751-7915.70398
Chen, W., Fu, D., Korth, B., Worrich, A. (2026):
Predicting the degradation kinetics of pharmaceutical pollutants during electrochemical oxidation: A synergistic machine learning framework and mechanistic insights
J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 14 (5), art. 123958
10.1016/j.jece.2026.123958
Franz, A., Chávez Morejón, M., Prakash, A., Usta, C., Gürarslan, A., Pompe, T., Bühler, K., Harnisch, F., Karande, R. (2026):
Hybrid living materials hosting Pseudomonas biofilms for continuous biotransformation of cyclohexanol to adipic acid
Cell Rep. Phys. Sci. 7 (10), art. 103545
10.1016/j.xcrp.2026.103545
Izadi, P., Antonopoulou, I., Rova, U., Christakopoulos, P., de Oliveira Maciel, A., Pant, D., Rawls, B., Harnisch, F. (2026):
Demonstration of electrochemical CO₂ conversion from industrial off-gas to formate and its extraction
Catal.Today 477 , art. 115911
10.1016/j.cattod.2026.115911
Izadi, P., Pant, D., Harnisch, F. (2026):
Integrating electrochemical and microbial processes for CO₂ conversion at scale
Curr. Opin. Chem. Eng. 51 , art. 101221
10.1016/j.coche.2025.101221
Izadi, P., Varhade, S., Schneider, C., Haus, P., Singh, C., Guruj, A., Pant, D., Harnisch, F. (2026):
Scaling up electrochemical CO₂ reduction to formate through comparative reactor analysis
Ind. Chem. Mater. 4 , 260 - 275
10.1039/D5IM00056D
Kas, A., Izadi, P., Lenz, C., Rohwerder, T., Krömer, J.O., Harnisch, F. (2026):
Exploring ectoine production from methanol, formate, and electrochemically produced formate by Methyloligella halotolerans
Eng. Life Sci. 26 (1), e70063
10.1002/elsc.70063
Korth, B., Harnisch, F. (2026):
Microbial electrochemical technologies can support sustainable energy, waste treatment, and resource recovery
Commun. Sustain. 1 , art. 69
10.1038/s44458-026-00073-3
Lehneis, R., Harnisch, F., Izadi, P. (2026):
A simulation-based case study on integrating photovoltaic energy supply with electrochemical CO₂ reduction
Front. Energy Res. 14 , art. 1720659
10.3389/fenrg.2026.1720659
Pohl, M., Röhring, K., Chávez Morejón, M., Harnisch, F. (2026):
The concentration determines reaction efficiency of hetero-coupling of bio-based medium chain carboxylic acids by Kolbe electrolysis
ChemSusChem 19 (10), e70753
10.1002/cssc.70753
Pouresmaeil, S., Griebel, J., Prager, A., Harnisch, F., Kretzschmar, J. (2026):
Wood-derived sphere-like biochar granules as an electrode platform for future bed electrodes
ChemElectroChem 13 (14), e70268
10.1002/celc.70268
Pouresmaeil, S., Prager, A., Griebel, J., Harnisch, F., Kretzschmar, J. (2026):
Decoupling bulk composition and alloying effects in Ni-Mo materials for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution at near-neutral pH
Front. Energy Res. 14 , art. 1939600
10.3389/fenrg.2026.1939600
Reinikovaite, V., Schmidt, M., Stirkė, A., Harnisch, F., Korth, B. (2026):
Graphite granules as microbial electrodes: Determining the relevant surface area
J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 14 (2), art. 121897
10.1016/j.jece.2026.121897
Saeidi, N., Chávez Morejón, M., Harnisch, F. (2026):
Experimental optimization and process modelling of the selective electrochemical hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanol using a non-noble metal catalyst
Chem. Eng. J. 537 , art. 176358
10.1016/j.cej.2026.176358
Schößow, Y., Harnisch, F., Korth, B. (2026):
Low-cost thermistor electrodes for numbering-up thermodynamic studies on electroactive biofilms
Electrochem. Commun. 188 , art. 108188
10.1016/j.elecom.2026.108188
Schröder, U., Harnisch, F., Heidrich, E., Ieropoulos, I.A., Logan, B.E., Nath, D., Pant, D., Patil, S.A., Puig, S., Ren, J., Rossi, R., Rotaru, A.-E., ter Heijne, A. (2026):
Waste to value: microbial electrochemical technologies for sustainable water, material, and energy cycles
Frontiers in Science 4 , art. 1688727
10.3389/fsci.2026.1688727
Seibert, L., Chávez Morejón, M., Harnisch, F., Karande, R. (2026):
Biofunneling hydrogenated phenols into adipic acid using recombinant Pseudomonas taiwanensis VLB120
Cell Rep. Phys. Sci. 7 (2), art. 103069
10.1016/j.xcrp.2025.103069