Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). eprints@whiterose.ac.uk https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Reuse This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) licence. This licence only allows you to download this work and share it with others as long as you credit the authors, but you can't change the article in any way or use it commercially. More information and the full terms of the licence here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. *Graphical Abstract HighlightsOf the six materials tested Methanosarcina barkeri selectively adheres to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) The best support materials for initial adhesion after 2 h also performed best after 72 h. xDLVO model predictions correlated with experimental adhesion results. Applicability of the xDLVO model in identifying support materials for selective attachment of M. barkeri. ! *Highlights (for review) Physicochemical analysis of initial adhesion and biofilm formation of HighlightsOf the six materials tested Methanosarcina barkeri selectively adheres to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) The best support materials for initial adhesion after 2 h also performed best after 72 h. xDLVO model predictions correlated with experimental adhesion results. Applicability of the xDLVO model in identifying support materials for selective attachment of M. barkeri. AbstractThe retention of selective biofilms of Methanosarcina species within anaerobic digesters could reduce start-up times and enhance the efficiency of the process in treating high-strength domestic sewage. The objective of the study was to examine the effect of the surface characteristics of six common polymer support materials on the initial adhesion of the model methanogen, Methanosarcina barkeri, and to assess the potential of these support materials as selective biofilm carriers. Results from both the initial adhesion tests and extended DLVO (xDLVO) model correlated with each other, with PVC (12% surface coverage/mm 2 ), PTFE (6% surface coverage/mm 2 ), and PP (6% surface coverage/mm 2 ), shown to be the better performing support materials for initial adhesion, as well as subsequent biofilm formation by M. barkeri after 72 h. These three support materials Experimental results showed that the type of material strongly influenced the extent of adhesion from M. barkeri (p < 0.0001), and the xDLVO model was able to explain the results in these environmental conditions. Therefore, DLVO physicochemical forces were found to be influential on the initial adhesion of M. barkeri. Scanning electron microscopy suggested that production of extracellular polymeric substances ...