In recent, electrode coated with nanoparticles is an alternative method to enhance power output of microbial fuel cells (MFC). The utilization of nanoparticles coated electrode effects on biological application is still unidentified. In this study hydroalcoholic Amaranthus dubius leaf extract mediated iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized from Ferric chloride. The prepared iron oxide nanoparticles were characterized using various analytical techniques. The antibacterial as well as the antibiofilm activity of nanoparticles and carbon paper coated with nanoparticles were investigated against isolated bacteria from distillery waste water using disc diffusion and crystal violet assay method. The effect of nano particles coated electrode on the performance of MFC was investigated and compared with bare electrode. The characterization results show that iron oxide nanoparticles had better physico-chemical properties. The antibacterial assay confirmed that test organism was more resistant against nanoparticles and coated electrode. The results confirmed that the power density was increased to 31% by using nanoparticles coated electrode (145.5 mW/m(2)) as compared to bare electrode. Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) analysis reported that the exoelectrogensis was promoted by nanoparticles. Impedance results revealed that the anodic charge transfer resistance decreased with modified anode. The COD removal efficiency of 68.5 and 63.1% for nanoparticles coated and bare electrode. The results demonstrated that FeO nanoparticles coating enhanced the performance of MFC. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.