The use of commercial electrodes as cathodes in a single-chamber microbial electrolysis cell has been investigated. The cell was operated in sequencing batch mode and the performance of the electrodes was compared with carbon cloth containing 0.5 mg Pt cm(-2). Overall H-2 recovery was 66.7 +/- A 1.4, 58.7 +/- A 1.1 and 55.5 +/- A 1.5 % for Pt/CC, Ni and Ti mesh electrodes, respectively. Columbic efficiencies of the three cathodes were in the same range (74.8 +/- A 1.5, 77.6 +/- A 1.7 and 75.7 +/- A 1.2 % for Pt/CC, Ni and Ti mesh electrodes, respectively). A similar performance for the three cathodes under near-neutral pH and ambient temperature was obtained. The commercial electrodes are much cheaper than carbon cloth containing Pt. Low cost and good performance of these electrodes suggest they are suitable cathode materials for large scale application.