Département de chimie moléculaire

Enzymic biofuel cells generate elec. energy from renewable sources with high selectivity and environmental benefits compared to Li batteries and traditional fuel cells. For enzymic fuel cells to become competitive, major improvements in electrode design are required to enhance power d., voltage output, and stability. Here the authors have developed a freestanding paper biofuel cell comprising redox mol. embedded multi-walled C nanotube papers for elec. wiring of enzymes. The drop-coat and 1-pot fabrication methods provide flexibility and permit a scalable process to make functionalized bioelectrodes via com. available materials. Buckypaper functionalized with 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione (PLQ) as an efficient electron mediator for fungal-derived FAD-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (FADGDH) shows very high steady-state current densities for glucose oxidn. of Imax = 5.38 ± 0.54 mA cm-2 at 0.15 V vs. SCE at neutral pH. When coupled with a bio-inspired protoporphyrin IX bucky paper cathode, the resulting glucose/O2 fuel cell delivered a power d. of 0.65 ± 0.10 mW cm-2 or 24.1 ± 4.7 mW cm-3 at a cell voltage of 0.5 V, limited by the cathode. Galvanostatic and current discharge expts. confirm robust short-term operational performance. [on SciFinder(R)]