Enzyme-catalyzed biocathode in a photoelectrochemical biofuel cell

• A novel double-enzyme photoelectrochemical biofuel cell is developed.
• Glucose dehydrogenase and horseradish peroxidase are used as catalysts.
• Horseradish peroxidase is an efficient catalyst for the biocathode.

A novel double-enzyme photoelectrochemical biofuel cell (PEBFC) has been developed by taking glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as the enzyme of the photoanode and biocathode to catalyze the oxidation of glucose and the reduction of oxygen. A H2-mesoporphyrin IX is used as a dye for a TiO2 film electrode to fabricate a photoanode. The horseradish peroxidase (HRP) is immobilized on a glassy carbon (GC) electrode to construct a biocathode which is used to catalyze the reduction of oxygen in the PEBFC for the first time. The biocathode exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity in the presence of O2. The performances of the PEBFC are obtained by current–voltage and power-voltage curves. The short-circuit current density (Isc), the open-circuit voltage (Voc), maximum power density (Pmax), fill factor (FF) and energy conversion efficiency (η) are 439 μA cm−2, 678 mV, 79 μW cm−2, 0.39 and 0.016%, respectively, and the incident photon-to-collected electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) is 32% at 350 nm. The Isc is higher than that of the PEBFC with Pt cathode, and the Voc is higher than that of the dye-sensitized solar cell or the enzyme-catalyzed biofuel cell operating individually, which demonstrates that the HRP is an efficient catalyst for the biocathode in the PEBFC.