title: Generating power from transdermal extracts using a multi-electrode miniature enzymatic fuel cell.
abstract: The development of self-powered wearable biodevices is highly attractive for a number of applications, such as health monitoring and drug delivery. Enzymatic fuel cells (EFCs) hold great potential as power sources for such devices, since they can generate power from physiological fluids and operate at body temperature. In this study, we present a cascade of three EFCs embedded in a compact and handy single channel device and we demonstrate for the first time power generation from iontophoresis extracts obtained from pig skin. The EFCs implement non-toxic highly-porous gold electrodes; an easy-to-reproduce procedure is adopted for the immobilization of glucose oxidase and laccase at the anode and cathode respectively; no external mediators are used; and the system design can easily be further miniaturized. When electrically connected in parallel, the EFCs generated a power output close to the sum of the power generated by each unit, with peak values of 0.7 µW (flow-through mode) and 0.4 µW (batch mode), at a glucose concentration of 27 mM. When the device was fed with transdermal extracts, containing only 30 μM of glucose, the average peak power was proportionally lower (0.004 µW).
authors.affiliation: University of Bath, Department of Chemical Engineering, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: du Toit
authors.affiliation: University of Bath, Department of Chemical Engineering, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
authors.forename: Razleen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rashidi
authors.affiliation: University of Bath, Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
authors.forename: Dominic W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Ferdani
authors.affiliation: University of Bath, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
authors.forename: Maria Begoña
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Delgado-Charro
authors.affiliation: University of Bath, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
authors.forename: Carl M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Sangan
authors.affiliation: University of Bath, Department of Chemical Engineering, Bath BA2 7AY, UK. Electronic address: M.Di.Lorenzo@bath.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Mirella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Lorenzo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D004800:Enzymes, Immobilized / Q000737:chemistry; D005947:Glucose / Q000737:chemistry; D005949:Glucose Oxidase / Q000737:chemistry; D042845:Laccase / Q000737:chemistry; D012867:Skin / Q000737:chemistry*; D013552:Swine; D014020:Tissue Extracts / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004800:Enzymes, Immobilized; D014020:Tissue Extracts; D005949:Glucose Oxidase; D042845:Laccase; D005947:Glucose
keywords: Enzymatic fuel cell; Glucose oxidase; Highly porous gold; Laccase; Reverse iontophoresis