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Nanoscale Enzyme Reactors (NERs) for Biofuel Cells


EMSL Project ID
24826

Abstract

Enzyme-based biofuel cells use immobilized enzymes on electrodes for the conversion of chemical energy of biofuels (such as glucose, ethanol, or oil) to the electrical energy (Figure 1a). One of the critical advantages of biofuel cells over conventional fuel cells is that they can be operated without a membrane separating the oxygen from fuel, by taking advantage of the enzyme specificity for each substrate. This approach opens up the possibility of unlimited miniaturization of fuel cells, and can be used for low-powered implantable devices (such as pacemakers) or communication devices. As an example, Heller et al.1 developed a miniaturized compartment-less glucose-oxygen biofuel cells, and tested its operation in a living plant (Figure 1b). However, the critical problem was that the lifetime of implantable fuel cell was about a few days due to the poor stability of enzymes. So, a lot for attention is being given to the enzyme stabilization to achieve the practical applications of biofuel cells with a reasonably long lifetime.

Project Details

Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2007-05-29
End Date
2009-09-30
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Su Ha
Institution
Washington State University

Team Members

Shih-yi Lin
Institution
Washington State University

Hyun-gyu Park
Institution
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Su Jeong Shin
Institution
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Ki Young Kwon
Institution
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Ping Wang
Institution
University of Minnesota

Michael Fischback
Institution
Washington State University

Jungbae Kim
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Related Publications

Lin SSY, DH Kim, MH Engelhard, and SY Ha. 2010. "Water-induced Formation of Cobalt Oxides Over Supported Cobalt/Ceria-Zirconia Catalysts under Ethanol-Steam Conditions." Journal of Catalysis 273(2):229-235. doi:10.1016/j.jcat.2010.05.016
M. I. Kim, J. Kim,- J. Lee, H. B. Na, T. Hyeon, H. G. Park and H. N. Chang, “1-Dimensional Crosslinked Enzyme Aggregates in SBA-15: Superior Catalytic Behavior to Conventional Enzyme Immobilization”, Micropor. Mesopor. Mat. 111(1-3), 18-23 (2008).