The microbial fuel cell of Escherichia coli can convert microorganism biochemistry energy into electrical energy. To realize the influence of the growth curve phase with respect to different culture times on electricity performance, three kinds of E. coli (BCRC No. 10322, 10675, 51534) are selected, and it is both required and important to improve the performance of the microbial fuel cell (MFC). Results show that the BCRC No. 51534 of E. coli would be a better choice because a larger open-circuit voltage of 0.88 V and a limiting current of 10.1 mA possessed by it would result in an excellent power density of 547 mW/m(2). In addition, the selection of culture timing set as at the middle of the logarithmic phase and phase transition from logarithmic to stationary is suggested because the growth curve is suitable for electricity generation of the MEC. These observations would be useful for the improvement of the MFC. (C) 2010 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.