Anode-Driven Controlled Release of Cathodic Fuel via pH Response for Smart Enzymatic Biofuel Cell

Panpan Gai; Chengcheng Gu; Xinke Kong; Feng Li

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2020.101133

Anode-Driven Controlled Release of Cathodic Fuel via pH Response for Smart Enzymatic Biofuel Cell

iScience. 2020 Jun 26;23(6):101133. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101133. Epub 2020 May 5.

Authors

Panpan Gai¹, Chengcheng Gu¹, Xinke Kong¹, Feng Li²

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, P. R. China.
² College of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, P. R. China. Electronic address: lifeng@qau.edu.cn.

Abstract

Enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) with or without a membrane to separate the anodic and cathodic compartments generally suffered from high internal resistance or interactive interference, both of which restricted the improvement of their performance. Herein, a smart membrane-less EBFC was engineered based on anode-driven controlled release of cathodic acceptor via pH-responsive metal-organic framework ([Fe(CN)₆]^3-@ZIF-8) nanocarriers. The glucose anodic oxidation would produce gluconic acid accompanied by the change in pH value from neutral to the acidic case, which could drive the degradation of [Fe(CN)₆]^3-@ZIF-8 nanocarriers and further realize the controlled release of cathodic acceptor [Fe(CN)₆]^3-. More importantly, compared with controlled EBFC with or without membrane, the power output of the as-proposed EBFC enhanced at least 700 times due to the seamless electronic communication. Therefore, the ingenious strategy not only realized the successful engineering of the membrane-less EBFC but also provided an appealing idea for constructing smart devices.

Keywords: Biofuel; Energy Storage; Energy Systems.