Electroactive biofilms (EABs) are essential for bioelectrochemical systems, however, the formation of cathodic EABs is more time-consuming than anodic EABs. This study aims to evaluate whether acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) could facilitate the start-up of cathodic Geobacter soli EABs. With AHL addition, the biomass, cell viability, and extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) abundance of cathode-associated G. soli EABs were increased. Likewise, redox activities of EPS and outermost proteins in the cathodic EABs were enhanced in the presence of AHLs, which consequently led to better start-up performance of biofilms. Compared to the control without AHLs, start-up lag periods were reduced by approximately 50%, electron uptakes were enhanced by 1.3–2.0 times, and denitrification rates were more than doubled with AHL addition in the start-up cycle, which were comparable to those of mature G. soli cathodic EABs. These findings open up an opportunity for accelerating the start-up of cathodic biofilms via AHLs.

电活性生物膜（EAB）对于生物电化学系统至关重要，但是，形成阴极EAB的过程比阳极EAB更为耗时。这项研究旨在评估酰基高丝氨酸内酯（AHLs）是否可以促进阴极Geobacter soli EAB的启动。添加AHL后，与阴极相关的G. soli的生物量，细胞活力和细胞外聚合物质（EPS）丰富。EAB增加。同样，在存在AHL的情况下，阴极EAB中EPS和最外层蛋白的氧化还原活性也增强了，因此导致生物膜的启动性能更好。与没有AHL的对照相比，启动滞后时间减少了约50％，电子吸收提高了1.3-2.0倍，并且在启动周期中加入AHL的反硝化速率增加了一倍以上，这与成熟的G. soli阴极EAB的那些。这些发现为通过AHL加速阴极生物膜的启动提供了机会。