How exactly do you 'wire up' E. coli bacteria? Is the idea here that we could somehow string a bunch of them together into a tiny battery? Or is it more like using them as the electrolyte in a battery?
Mohammed and Melania (the lead researchers on the paper) are both super talented scientists. I had the pleasure of meeting them both in SF last year when they were on the west coast for a conference.
The protons and electrons serve the same role as hydrogen in a fuel cell.