Simple Yeast-Direct Catalytic Fuel Cell Bio-Device: Analytical Results and Energetic Properties.

Mauro Tomassetti,Emanuele Dell’Aglio,Maria Pia Sammartino,Mauro Castrucci,Luigi Campanella,Corrado Di Natale

doi:10.3390/bios11020045

Mauro Tomassetti, Emanuele Dell’Aglio + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11020045

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Abstract

This paper reports the analytical detection and energetic properties of a glucose-fed Direct Catalytic Fuel Cell (DCFC) operated in association with yeast cells (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae). The cell was tested in a potentiostatic mode, and the operating conditions were optimized to maximize the current produced by a given concentration of glucose. Results indicate that the DCFC is characterized by a glucose detection limit of the order to 21 mmol L−1. The cell was used to estimate the “pool” of carbohydrate content in commercial soft drinks. Furthermore, the use of different carbohydrates, such as fructose and sucrose, has been shown to result in a good current yield.

Highlights

Fuel cells are promising devices for small-scale power generation
This paper reports the analytical detection and energetic properties of a glucose-fed Direct Catalytic Fuel Cell (DCFC) operated in association with yeast cells (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae)
Fuel cells have been used in the past by present authors to quantify alcohol content in foods, drinks, and pharmaceutical preparations [4,5,6], while in this paper authors investigated the analytical survey of the Direct Catalytic Fuel Cell (DCFC) fuel cell for glucose determination, not neglecting to evaluate the energy production from glucose solution

Summary

Introduction

Fuel cells are promising devices for small-scale power generation (fuel cells as energy generator). The device described in our work involves the use of yeast placed in an external thermostated vessel, in addition to an efficient filtering system that does not allow the penetration of any yeast cells (or other particles) in the anodic compartment of the fuel cell. This makes measures much more repeatable, especially for analytical purposes, and increases the use of the same fuel cell, practically for an unlimited time. It was possible to thermostat the system as well as the possibility of optimizing the various operating parameters, which brought great advantages to the efficiency and repeatability of the measurement—very useful especially in analytical applications

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