Performance Evaluation of Screen-Printed Paper-Based Glucose Biofuel Cell Using MgO-Templated Porous Carbon Material for Self-Powered Diaper Sensor

Abstract

Recently, biofuel cells have been attracted attention as compact and safe wearable power sources [1]. We have reported paper-based glucose biofuel cells in which porous carbon materials were printed by screen printing technique [2,3]. The biofuel cell can be expected to be applied to self-powered urine sugar biosensor for inspecting diabetes. In this study, we fabricated a disk-shaped paper-based biofuel cell array for power source of a self-powered diaper sensor. In this paper, we discuss a performance of a single biofuel cell. The paper-based biofuel cell anode and cathode were fabricated by screen-printing. The MgO-templated porous carbon ink was printed for bioanode and biocathode. Tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and glucose oxidase (GOD) was modified on the bioanode surface. The biocathode was prepared by modifying bilirubin oxidase (BOD). The biofuel cell was prepared by stacking the non-printed side of paper substrate of bioanode and biocathode by using water repellent double-sided tape. During the measurements, the edges of the paper substrate of bioanode, the biocathode and the cell were immersed in the 1 M phosphate buffer solution containing glucose. Figure1 shows cyclic voltammograms of the bioanode in a phosphate buffer containing 100 mM glucose at 37 ℃. Compared to the background current measured in 0 mM glucose solution, a catalytic current wave related to glucose oxidation was clearly observed in the presence of glucose, and the maximum current density was 7.4 mA cm-2 at 0.5 V. Figure 2 shows the relation between power density and operating cell voltage with different concentration of glucose at 37 ℃. It was confirmed that the output power density increased along with increase of the glucose concentration. Finally, a disk-type biofuel cell array was prepared and output evaluation was carried out. Acknowledgement This work was supported by JST-ASTEP Grant Number AS272S004a. References(1) L. Zhang et al., Biosens. Bioelectron. 35 (2012)155-159.(2) I. Shitanda et al., Chem. Commun. 49 (2013) 11110-11112.(3) I. Shitanda et al., J. Power Sources, 360 (2017) 516-519. Figure 1