Influence of Surface Zeta Potential on Adhesion of Chlorella sp. to Substratum Surfaces

Microalgae, in wet conditions, tend to grow on surfaces and form biofilms. The adhesion of microalgae to surfaces is very important for algal mass culture. The formation and development of microalgal biofims are in large denpend on the properties of cell surface, substratum surface and gowth medium. In this paper, the influence of substratum surface zeta potential on the microalgal biofilms was particularly investigated. We focused on a widely-used microalgal strain, the freshwater autotrophicChlorella sp..The adhesion phenomena ofChlorella sp.to surfaces with different zeta potential were observed microscopically. It was found thatChlorella sp.adhered easily to the surface with a positive zeta potential and difficultly to the surface with a negative zeta potential. We concluded that the surface zeta potential had a greater influence on the adhesion of microalgal cells to substratum surfaces. Our findings have important implications for microalgae mass culture and harvesting.