| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 186535 | Electrochimica Acta | 2014 | 10 Pages |
In this study, we investigated the influence of nature of the electropolymerized monomer on the resulting power output and stability of a glucose/O2 powered biofuel cells (BFCs). The bioanode was prepared from a mixture of glucose oxidase-polymeric monomer-ferrocenium hexafluorophosphate-pyrroloquinoline quinone (abbreviated as, GOx-monomer-FHFP-PQQ) and the biocathode from laccase enzyme-polymeric monomer-4,4-sulfonyldiphenol-Bis-(bipyridine)-(5-aminophenanthroline) ruthenium bis (hexafluorophosphate) (abbreviated as, LAc-monomer-SDP-RuPy) electrodeposited from low conductivity solutions using pulsed square wave potentials (10 s at 4 V, then 3 s at 0.5 V) for 180 cycles. Three different monomers were investigated: aniline, phenol and pyridine. The power output of the aniline based BFCs reached 5.97 μW.mm−2 which is higher than the pyrrole based BFCs reported previously (3.17 μW.mm−2). With phenol monomer, the estimated maximum power density was only 0.276 μW.mm−2. The pyridine based BFCs showed the lowest power density (0.046 μW.mm−2) of all, even lower than the monomer-free BFC (0.124 μW.mm−2). The evaluation of the BFCs in buffer solution pH 7.4 under air at 37 °C for 3 days of continuous operation showed that pyrrole and aniline based BFCs are the most stable followed by phenol based BFCs. Pyridine and monomer-free BFCs undergo significant deterioration with up to 75% loss in power density.
