High-power hybrid biofuel cells using layer-by-layer assembled glucose oxidase-coated metallic cotton fibers

Cheong Hoon Kwon,Seung Woo Lee,Minseong Kwon,Wan Ki Bae,Jinho Park,Yongmin Ko,Dongyeeb Shin,Jinhan Cho

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06994-5

Cheong Hoon Kwon, Seung Woo Lee + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06994-5

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Abstract

Electrical communication between an enzyme and an electrode is one of the most important factors in determining the performance of biofuel cells. Here, we introduce a glucose oxidase-coated metallic cotton fiber-based hybrid biofuel cell with efficient electrical communication between the anodic enzyme and the conductive support. Gold nanoparticles are layer-by-layer assembled with small organic linkers onto cotton fibers to form metallic cotton fibers with extremely high conductivity (>2.1×104 S cm−1), and are used as an enzyme-free cathode as well as a conductive support for the enzymatic anode. For preparation of the anode, the glucose oxidase is sequentially layer-by-layer-assembled with the same linkers onto the metallic cotton fibers. The resulting biofuel cells exhibit a remarkable power density of 3.7 mW cm−2, significantly outperforming conventional biofuel cells. Our strategy to promote charge transfer through electrodes can provide an important tool to improve the performance of biofuel cells.

Highlights

Electrical communication between an enzyme and an electrode is one of the most important factors in determining the performance of biofuel cells
Zebda et al demonstrate that DET-Biofuel cells (BFCs) based on CNT supports exhibited a significantly higher power output of 1.25 mW cm−2 compared to previously reported DET-BFCs fabricated by solution drop casting and high mechanical compression[5]
This was confirmed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mapping, and topographic atomic force microscopy (AFM) (Fig. 2c and Supplementary Fig. 2)

Summary

Introduction

Electrical communication between an enzyme and an electrode is one of the most important factors in determining the performance of biofuel cells. We introduce a glucose oxidasecoated metallic cotton fiber-based hybrid biofuel cell with efficient electrical communication between the anodic enzyme and the conductive support. Biofuel cells (BFCs)[1] are thought to be one of the most attractive power sources for implantable and microscale biomedical devices because of their biocompatibility and operation at mild temperatures and near-neutral pH2–4 Despite these advantages, the relatively low power output of BFCs compared to other power sources, resulting from slow electron transfer, poor utilization efficiency of the enzyme, and limited mass transport, has restricted their practical applications. With the advances of the anode for the glucose oxidation reaction through glucose oxidase (GOx), the proper design of the cathode to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity is crucial to obtain the high-power density and efficiency. The ideal LbL assembly for BFC applications should replace bulky polymer electrolytes with small-molecule linkers that can facilitate the electrical communication between the active materials as well as enable the efficient assembly of the catalysts with a controlled structure and loading amount

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