A novel single-enzymatic biofuel cell based on highly flexible conductive bacterial cellulose electrode utilizing pollutants as fuel

Abstract

Enzymatic biofuel cell (EBFC) uses enzymes to convert the chemical energy of renewable biofuels into electrical energy, which shows great promise in the continuous power supply of implantable devices. Meanwhile, integrating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with high conductivity and superior structural properties of bacterial cellulose (BC) as backbone to construct CNTs-BC based nanocomposites has proven to be an effective strategy. Herein, a highly flexible electrode of amidoxime-modified BC (AOBC)/carboxylated multi-walled CNTs (c-MWCNTs) were prepared by vacuum filtration with excellent laccase (LAC) immobilization. Subsequently, we developed a novel EBFC that intramolecular electron transfer was achieved by an alternative pathway for generating electricity within a single enzyme molecule of LAC. Sufficient power was efficiently extracted from unconventional fuels in single-LAC biofuel cells, including persistent pollutants (e.g., bisphenol A, hydroquinone and pyrocatechol). The open circuit voltage generated by EBFC was 0.14 V and the power density reached 1.897 W m−3. This novel single-enzymatic biofuel cell exhibited a potential for recycling of waste water as fuel.