title: Enzymatic fuel cells: integrating flow-through anode and air-breathing cathode into a membrane-less biofuel cell design.
abstract: One of the key goals of enzymatic biofuel cells research has been the development of a fully enzymatic biofuel cell that operates under a continuous flow-through regime. Here, we present our work on achieving this task. Two NAD(+)-dependent dehydrogenase enzymes; malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) were independently coupled with poly-methylene green (poly-MG) catalyst for biofuel cell anode fabrication. A fungal laccase that catalyzes oxygen reduction via direct electron transfer (DET) was used as an air-breathing cathode. This completes a fully enzymatic biofuel cell that operates in a flow-through mode of fuel supply polarized against an air-breathing bio-cathode. The combined, enzymatic, MDH-laccase biofuel cell operated with an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 0.584 V, whereas the ADH-laccase biofuel cell sustained an OCV of 0.618 V. Maximum volumetric power densities approaching 20 μW cm(-3) are reported, and characterization criteria that will aid in future optimization are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Nuclear Engineering, Center for Emerging Energy Technologies, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
authors.forename: Rosalba A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rincón
authors.forename: Carolin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Heather R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Luckarift
authors.forename: Kristen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Adkins
authors.forename: Glenn R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Plamen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Atanassov
mesh_terms: D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase / Q000737:chemistry*; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D004566:Electrodes; D004579:Electron Transport; D005658:Fungi / Q000737:chemistry; D042845:Laccase / Q000737:chemistry*; D008291:Malate Dehydrogenase / Q000737:chemistry*; D008751:Methylene Blue / Q000031:analogs & derivatives
chemical_list: D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase; D008291:Malate Dehydrogenase; D042845:Laccase; C028673:methylene green; D008751:Methylene Blue