Calculating the Electrochemical Activity of Porous Electrodes of a Filled-up Type with an Immobilized Enzyme

Abstract

The electrochemical activity of porous electrodes of a filled-up type with an immobilized enzyme is calculated with the aid of computer-aided modeling. The percolation properties of two-component (a mixture of dispersed particles of the substrate and the enzyme) and three-component (a carrier of a gas reactant is added) models of a porous electrode are investigated. Taking into account specific features inherent in the forming macroscopic clusters (collections of particles of one sort or another connected with one another), i.e. an “electron” cluster and a “gas” cluster, makes it possible to determine the concentration of an active catalyst which is capable of taking part in the electrochemical process. The calculation of the electrochemical activity is performed in two-component structures, where the process of the current generation is limited by diffusion limitations, and in three-component structures, where the process of the current generation is limited by ohmic limitations. Estimates of the current are performed using an oxygen porous electrode with Nafion and an enzyme as an example. The electrochemical characteristics of this model electrode are close to those obtained on laccase. Introducing a hydrophobizing agent into the active layer of the porous electrode (passing from two-component structures to three-component structures) produces a positive effect. Although the number of active molecules of the enzyme drops in this case by an order of magnitude, the liquidation of diffusion limitations eventually raises the magnitude of the current by approximately threefold. Calculations show that it is quite feasible to obtain currents of ∼0.2 A cm–2 on a porous electrode 16 μm thick at an overvoltage of ∼30 mV.