Session: 12-02: Hydrogen Energy, Alternative Fuels, Bioenergy, and Biofuels

Paper Number: 141999

141999 - A Novel Enzyme-Free Glucose Biofuel Cell Based on a Nanostructured Gold Anode 

Abstract: 

According to the Paris Agreement, the carbon emissions need to be reduced by 45% by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050 to maintain the global warming to no more than 1.5°C. To achieve this goal, the use of conventional petrochemical oil sources and hydrocarbon-based products should be largely reduced. Fuel cells, which possesses characteristics such as low environmental pollution, low noise, high density energy, no need to recharge, and long use time, can be a highly feasible renewable energy. However, high prices and low energy conversion rates limit their cyclopaedic applications. Benefiting from the rapid development of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in recent years, the shortcomings of fuel cells have been greatly improved. Biofuel cells (BFCs), that generate electricity using enzymes or microorganisms to decompose and catalyze biological organic matter, have aroused great attention. Glucose is an important source of energy for many organisms. Mitochondria, the cell's power plants, oxidize glucose to make crucial energy molecules called adenosine triphosphate, which powers various activities within cells. Glucose can produce up to 16 kW/g energy and releases 12 electrons/molecule during each oxidation process. Glucose, having advantages such as natural abundance, renewability, nontoxicity, and ease of production, is a promising fuel for BFCs. With the rapid development of wearable or implantable medical devices, glucose biofuel cells (GBFCs) have attracted widespread attention. Most of the reported GBFCs are enzymatic fuel cells, which use glucose oxide as enzyme to oxidize the glucose. Although enzyme exhibits excellent selectivity and reaction rate, enzymatic GBFCs bear disadvantages, such as complex enzyme immobilization procedures, difficulty of reactants reaching the deep structure, poisoning, difficult storage of the enzyme activity for a long time, and unstable power output. Therefore, enzyme-free GBFCs are desired and have been reported recently.

The energy conversion efficiency of an enzyme-free GBFC highly depends on the effective catalytic area of the anode and the effective electron transfer efficiency of the cathode. In this study, a novel enzyme-free glucose biofuel cell (GBFC) based on a nanostructured Au anode is proposed. The primary components the proposed enzyme-free GBFC were the nanostructured Au anode, Nafion proton-exchange membrane (PEM), and the cathode of graphene oxide on a glassy carbon electrode. The main novelty of the proposed GBFC is a nanostructured anode with small gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) uniformly deposited on a nano-hemisphere array of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to enhance the catalytic efficiency of glucose. The nano-hemisphere array of PET was fabricated by hot embossing using a Ni mold that was electroformed using an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template. AuNPs were then electrochemically deposited on the surface of the nano-hemisphere array. The cathode is composed of graphene oxide on a glassy carbon electrode to intensify electron transport efficiency. Nafion is used as the proton exchange membrane to separate the anode and cathode. A homemade GBFC was used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed GBFC. Experimental results show that the proposed enzyme-free GBFC has a high-power density of 3 mWcm⁻², a high current density of 5.7 mAcm⁻², an open-circuit voltage of 0.7 V under a alkaline environment of 1 M NaOH and a glucose concentration of 0.25 M.  The proposed GBFC possesses advantages such as no enzyme required, ease of production, low cost, and high repeatability. Therefore, it is highly feasible for commercialization and use in practical applications.

Presenting Author: Gou-Jen Wang National Chung Hsing Univ

Presenting Author Biography: Gou-Jen Wang received the B.S. degree on 1981 from National Taiwan University and the M.S. and PhD degree on 1986 and 1991 from the University of California, Los Angeles, all in Mechanical Engineering. Following graduation, he joined the Dowty Aerospace Los Angeles as a system engineer from 1991 to 1992. Dr. Wang joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at the National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan on 1992 as an Associate Professor and has become a Professor on 1999. From 2003-2006, he served as the Division Director of Curriculum of the Center of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. From 2007 to 2011, he was the Chairperson of the Graduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Chung-Hsing University. From August 2015 to July 2021, he was the Dean of the College of Engineering. His research interests include micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS)/nano electro mechanical systems (NEMS), nanostructured biosensors, nanofabrication, and tissue engineering

Authors:

Gou-Jen Wang National Chung Hsing Univ
Phan Trong Nghia National Chung Hsing University