The present work evaluates, for the first time, the potential use of supported liquid membranes based on ionic liquids as proton exchange membranes in microbial fuel cells. Specifically, ionic liquids based on 1-n-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium (n-butyl, n-octyl) and methyl trioctylammonium cation combining with hexafluorophosphate, tetrafluoroborate, chloride and bis{(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl}imide anions were used. Nafion (R) and Ultrex (R) membranes were used as reference membranes. It has been demonstrated that supported ionic liquids membranes based on ionic liquids could act as proton exchange membrane in microbial fuel cells, being power and chemical oxygen demanded removal (i.e. 103.9 mW/m(3) and 89.1%, respectively for the ammonium based supported ionic liquid membrane) similar or even higher than conventional proton exchange membranes such as Nafion (R) and Ultrex (R). (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.