Recent advancements in the field of flexible/wearable enzyme fuel cells

Abstract

This review article focusses on new advances in the field of enzyme fuel cells (EFCs), especially, on flexible materials which can be used to make flexible EFCs for wearable devices, three-dimensional (3D) printed structures to prepare electrodes for EFCs and micro/nano electromechanical structures (MEMS/NEMS) to fabricate micro-EFCs. Particular attention is given to newly developed approaches to obtain efficient electrodes for harvesting energy via EFCs. This review article explains the various attributes of these recently developing technologies and their ability to mitigate the energy requirements of flexible/wearable bioelectronic devices. Besides discussing key milestones achieved, this perspective review article also emphasizes the main hurdles that are currently impeding the realization of flexible/wearable EFCs. We have also emphasized on the major hurdles related to the flexible materials required to fabricate wearable EFCs, suitable 3D printing techniques required, and MEMS and NEMS to fabricate micro-EFCs. In all the recently developed techniques, there are some common issues like stability, low power output, mechanical strength and flexibility. This review article also provides various routes to mitigate these issues. The main aim of this perspective article is to develop curiosity among the researchers of various fields to team up in order to address the huge challenges that restrict the real-world application of flexible/wearable EFCs. Such collaboration is important to harness the full potential of EFCs. It is requested to read this review article with supporting information to get the complete essence.