This review summarizes recent trends in the field of enzymatic fuel cells. Thanks to the high specificity of enzymes, biofuel cells can generate electrical energy by oxidation of a targeted fuel (sugars, alcohols, or hydrogen) at the anode and reduction of oxidants (O2, H2O2) at the cathode in complex media. The combination of carbon nanotubes (CNT), enzymes and redox mediators was widely explo...

The purpose of this chapter is to review recent work in biofuel cells -that is, fuel cells relying at least in part on enzymatic catalysis for their activity. The chapter is divided into three sections: (1) a brief review of the principles common to fuel cells (both biological and non-biological), supported with a bibliography of more comprehensive treatments, (2) an overview of the literature ...

An electroswitchable and tunable biofuel cell based on the biocatalyzed oxidation of glucose is described. The anode consists of a Cu(2+)-poly(acrylic acid) film on which the redox-relay pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) and the flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) cofactor are covalently linked. Apo-glucose oxidase is reconstituted on the FAD sites to yield the glucose oxidase (GOx)-functionalized e...

Diaphorase catalyzes efficiently the oxidation of NADH to NAD+ by benzylviologen. This reaction was used to regenerate the NADf required for the biocatalyzed oxidation of methanol to CO, using NADf-dependent dehydrogenases. A rnethanol/dioxygen biofuel cell was assembled using these bioreactions in the anode compartment. The open-circuit voltage of the cell was 0.8 V, and the maximum power outp...

A major challenge when using microorganisms to produce bulk chemicals such as biofuels is that the production targets are often toxic to cells. Many biofuels are known to reduce cell viability through damage to the cell membrane and interference with essential physiological processes. Therefore, cells must trade off biofuel production and survival, reducing potential yields. Recently, there hav...

A self-powered glucose biosensor (SPGS) system is fabricated and in vitro characterization of the power generation and charging frequency characteristics in glucose analyte are described. The bioelectrodes consist of compressed network of three-dimensional multi-walled carbon nanotubes with redox enzymes, pyroquinoline quinone glucose dehydrogenase (PQQ-GDH) and laccase functioning as the anodi...

Engineering microorganisms to produce biofuels is currently among the most promising strategies in renewable energy. However, harvesting these organisms for extracting biofuels is energy- and cost-intensive, limiting the commercial feasibility of large-scale production. Here, we demonstrate the use of a class of transport proteins of pharmacological interest to circumvent the need to harvest bi...

The ultra-small silicon nanoparticle was shown to be an electrocatalyst for the electrooxidation of glucose. The oxidation appeared to be a first order reaction which involves the transfer of 1 electron. The oxidation potential showed a low onset of -0.4V vs. Ag/AgCl (-0.62 V vs. RHE). The particle was used as the anode catalyst of a prototype hybrid biofuel cell, which operated on glucose and ...