Implantable biofuel cells : towards the production of electricity from human body
Serge Cosnier a
a Grenoble university, Université Joseph Fourier,Département de Chimie Moléculaire UMR CNRS 5250 570 rue de la Chimie, Grenoble, France, 38042, France
Proceedings of International Conference on Bio Energy (Bioenergy14)
Torremolinos, Spain, 2014 June 2nd - 3rd
Organizer: Francisco Fabregat-Santiago
Invited Speaker, Serge Cosnier, presentation 005
Publication date: 10th April 2014

Serge COSNIER

CNRS-Grenoble university, Département de Chimie Moléculaire UMR CNRS 5250, Université Joseph Fourier, BP-53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

 

The ever-increasing depletion of fossil fuels and the need for clean methods of producing electricity have stimulated the emergence of fuel cells that convert chemical energy into electrical energy. This concept was extrapolated to the development of biofuel cells that produce electrical energy from the enzymatic degradation of glucose and oxygen present in human metabolism. Considerable attention has recently been paid to the implantation of biofuel cells in the human body with the aim to power implanted medical devices.

Taking into account that the biointerface activity was related to the immobilized amount of catalysts and the specific surface of the conductive substrate, 3D structures were designed via the use of carbon nanotubes as building block [1]. Carbon nanotubes exhibit nanowire morphology, biocompatibility and excellent conductivity. Furthermore, nanotube modified electrodes offer a large electroactive surface together with a highly porous three-dimensional structure. The recent advances in term of enzyme immobilization and electrode materials used for enzyme wiring will be summarized. In particular, the possibility to functionalize carbon nanotubes by attaching specific docking sites for biomolecules or molecular catalysts will be described [2]. An example of biofuel cell based on carbon nanotube/enzyme compressions, employing glucose oxidase for glucose oxidation, and laccase for oxygen reduction will be reported [3,4]. The glucose biofuel cell delivered an impressive power density : 1.54 mW/cm2, 1.92mWmL-1 or 2.67mWg-1. The latter is able to constantly deliver 0.56mWhcm-2 under discharge at 0.5 V, showing among the best in vitro performances. We report also the first example of a glucose/H2O2 biofuel cell operating at 5 mM glucose under air at 37 °C in 0.14 M NaCl. At a bienzymatic cathode, the direct wiring of horseradish peroxidase achieves the electrocatalytic reduction of H2O2 concomitantly produced during the oxidation of glucose by glucose oxidase. This represents a novel alternative to the use of copper oxidases in conventional glucose/O2 biofuel cells for implantable applications.

This presentation will briefly survey the chronological evolution of the implantable glucose fuel cells from abiotic fuel cells to biofuel cells and their related examples implanted in insects, mollusks, arthropods and mammals. Moreover, the first example of a biofuel cell implanted in the abdominal cavity of a rat and its application to power a light-emitting diode (LED) and a digital thermometer will be described [5].



1. M. Holzinger, A. Le Goff, S. Cosnier, Electrochim. Acta 2012, 82, 179-190. 2. N. Lalaoui, K. Elouarzaki, A. Le Goff, M. Holzinger, S. Cosnier, Chem. Commun, in press. 3. ] A. Zebda, C. Gondran, M. Holzinger, A. Le Goff, P. Cinquin, S. Cosnier, Nature Commun. 2011, 2 : 370, 1365. 4. B. Reuillard, A. Le Goff, C. Agnès, M. Holzinger, A. Zebda, C. Gondran, K. Elouarzaki, S. Cosnier, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2013, 15, 4892-4896. 5. A. Zebda, S. Cosnier, J.-P. Alcaraz, M. Holzinger, A. Le Goff, C. Gondran, F. Boucher, F. Giroud, K. Gorgy, H. Lamraoui, P. Cinquin. Nature Publishing Group, Sci. Rep. 2013, 3, 1516.
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