title: A solvent-free microbial-activated air cathode battery paper platform made with pencil-traced graphite electrodes.
abstract: We present the fabrication of an ultra-low cost, disposable, solvent-free air cathode all-paper microbial fuel cell (MFC) that does not utilize any chemical treatments. The anode and cathode were fabricated by depositing graphite particles by drawing them on paper with a pencil (four strokes). Hydrophobic parchment paper was used as a proton exchange membrane (PEM) to allow only H(+) to pass. Air cathode MFC technology, where O2 was used as an electron acceptor, was implemented on the paper platform. The bioelectric current was generated by an electrochemical process involving the redox couple of microbial-activated extracellular electron transferred electrons, PEM-passed H(+), and O2 in the cathode. A fully micro-integrated pencil-traced MFC showed a fast start-time, producing current within 10 s after injection of bacterial cells. A single miniaturized all-paper air cathode MFC generated a maximum potential of 300 mV and a maximum current of 11 μA during 100 min after a single injection of Shewanella oneidensis. The micro-fabricated solvent-free air cathode all-paper MFC generated a power of 2,270 nW (5.68 mW/m(2)). The proposed solvent-free air cathode paper-based MFC device could be used for environmentally-friendly energy storage as well as in single-use medical power supplies that use organic matter.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Engineering, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Laser, Graduate School, Dankook University, Cheonan 31116, Korea.
authors.forename: Ju Yeon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Ban
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Laser, Graduate School, Dankook University, Cheonan 31116, Korea.
authors.forename: Chung-Hun
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Engineering, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Korea.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Korea.
authors.forename: Hun-Kuk
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Engineering, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Korea.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Korea.
authors.forename: Samjin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Choi