Fuel Cell Using Squid Axon Electrolyte and Its Proton Conductivity.

Tomoki Furuseki,Yasumitsu Matsuo

doi:10.3390/jfb11040086

Abstract

Fuel cells using biomaterials have the potential for environmentally friendly clean energy and have attracted a lot of interest. Moreover, biomaterials are expected to develop into in vivo electrical devices such as pacemakers with no side effects. Ion channels, which are membrane proteins, are known to have a fast ion transport capacity. Therefore, by using ion channels, the realization of fuel cell electrolytes with high-proton conductivity can be expected. In this study, we have fabricated a fuel cell using an ion channel electrolyte for the first time and investigated the electrical properties of the ion channel electrolyte. It was found that the fuel cell using the ion channel membrane shows a power density of 0.78 W/cm2 in the humidified condition. On the other hand, the power density of the fuel cell blocking the ion channel with the channel blocker drastically decreased. These results indicate that the fuel cell using the ion channel electrolyte operates through the existence of the ion channel and that the ion channel membrane can be used as the electrolyte of the fuel cell in humidified conditions. Furthermore, the proton conductivity of the ion channel electrolyte drastically increases above 85% relative humidity (RH) and becomes 2 × 10−2 S/m at 96% RH. This result indicates that the ion channel becomes active above 96%RH. In addition, it was deduced from the impedance analysis that the high proton conductivity of the ion channel electrolyte above 96% RH is caused by the activation of ion channels, which are closely related to the fractionalization of water molecule clusters. From these results, it was found that a fuel cell using the squid axon becomes a new fuel cell using the function of the ion channel above 96% RH.

Highlights

Fuel cells, which are known as clean energy, are focused on as next-generation environmentally friendly energy because fuel cells can obtain energy with high efficiency by utilizing the simple reaction of producing water from hydrogen and oxygen
The value of power density in the fuel cell based on ion channel electrolyte is higher than that in other biopolymers such as chitin, chitosan, and collagen membranes [28,29]
In order to confirm the role of the ion channel in the operation of the fuel cell, we have measured the i–V characteristics using the ion channel blocker 4-aminopyridine(4-AP, Nacalai Tesque, Tokyo, Japan) [37,38,42,43] and compared them with the i–V characteristics using the ion channel electrolyte without the channel blocker

Summary

Introduction

Fuel cells, which are known as clean energy, are focused on as next-generation environmentally friendly energy because fuel cells can obtain energy with high efficiency by utilizing the simple reaction of producing water from hydrogen and oxygen. A lot of investigations concerning highly proton-conductive electrolytes and low-cost catalysts for fuel cells are currently being carried out. For fuel cell electrolytes, the development of low-cost electrolytes with high proton conductivity is strongly desired. It is well-known that biomaterials are abundant in nature, low cost, and environmentally friendly materials [1]. This research, which treats biological membranes as electrolytes for fuel cells, will be useful for developing devices such as pacemakers that can be incorporated into the body. It is known that axons are important biological organs involved in neurotransmission in the living body, and various membrane proteins, including ion channels, exist. This study of a fuel cell electrolyte using the ion channel will be helpful for the development of new fuel cell electrolytes

Methods

Results

Conclusion