In Situ Engineering of Intracellular Hemoglobin for Implantable High-Performance Biofuel Cells

Huifeng Chen; Zhengyu Bai; Xianqi Dai; Xiaoqiao Zeng; Zachary P Cano; Xiaoxiao Xie; Mingyu Zhao; Matthew Li; He Wang; Zhongwei Chen; Lin Yang; Jun Lu

doi:10.1002/anie.201902073

In Situ Engineering of Intracellular Hemoglobin for Implantable High-Performance Biofuel Cells

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019 May 13;58(20):6663-6668. doi: 10.1002/anie.201902073. Epub 2019 Apr 9.

Authors

Huifeng Chen¹, Zhengyu Bai¹, Xianqi Dai¹, Xiaoqiao Zeng², Zachary P Cano³, Xiaoxiao Xie¹, Mingyu Zhao¹, Matthew Li^{2

3}, He Wang¹, Zhongwei Chen³, Lin Yang¹, Jun Lu²

Affiliations

¹ Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Province for Green Manufacturing of Fine Chemicals, Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Media and Reactions, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and College of Physics and Materials Science, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan, 453007, P. R. China.
² Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Waterloo Institute for, Nanotechnology, Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.

PMID: 30884032
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201902073

Abstract

The key challenge for the broad application of implantable biofuel cells (BFCs) is to achieve inorganic-organic composite biocompatibility while improving the activity and selectivity of the catalysts. We have fabricated nanoengineered red blood cells (NERBCs) by an environmentally friendly method by using red blood cells as the raw material and hemoglobin (Hb) embedded with ultrasmall hydroxyapatite (HAP, Ca₁₀ (PO₄ )₆ (OH)₂ ) as the functional BFC cathode material. The NERBCs showed greatly enhanced cell performance with high electrocatalytic activity, stability, and selectivity. The NERBCs maintained the original biological properties of the natural cell, while enhancing the catalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) through the interaction between -OH groups in HAP and the Hb in RBCs. They also enabled direct electron transportation, eliminating the need for an electron-transfer mediator, and showed catalytic inactivity for glucose oxidation, thus potentially enabling the development of separator-free BFCs.

Keywords: electrochemistry; implantable biofuel cells; nanoengineering; oxygen reduction reaction; red blood cells.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Bioelectric Energy Sources / standards*
Biosensing Techniques / methods*
Hemoglobins / metabolism*
Humans

Substances

Hemoglobins