Over the last decade, there has been renewed interest in biological fuel cells; a subset of fuel cells, where the cathode and/or anode catalysts are biocatalysts. This biocatalyst could be a living cell (microbial fuel cells) or a subcellular biological component (enzymatic or mitochondrial biological fuel cells). The first biological fuel cells were microbial and employed microbes at the anode to catalyze the oxidation of fuel. Over the last century, ...
The MURI research has been comprised of four interconnected Thrust Areas: Enzyme Engineering of Bio-electrocatalysts; Oxidation of Complex Biofuel; Electron Transfer Fundamentals; and Interface Architecture and Transport Phenomena in Bio-electrodes. The program established in summary that enzymatic biofuel cells present a viable candidate for ultimate miniaturization of power sources because it is a class of energy conversion devices that employ molecular electrocatalysts - enzymes and hierarchical surface architectures developed in ...
Populations of metabolically active bacteria were associated at an electrode surface via vapor-deposition of silica to facilitate in situ characterization of bacterial physiology and bioelectrocatalytic activity in microbial fuel cells.
Multicopper oxidases (MCO) have been extensively studied as oxygen reduction catalysts for cathodic reactions in biofuel cells. Theoretically, direct electron transfer between an enzyme and electrode offers optimal energy conversion efficiency providing that the enzyme/electrode interface can be engineered to establish efficient electrical communication. In this study, the direct bioelectrocatalysis of three MCO (Laccase from Trametes versicolor, bilirubin oxidase (BOD) from the fungi Myrothecium verrucaria and ascorbate oxidase (AOx) from ...
This work demonstrates a new approach for building bio-inorganic interfaces by integrating biomimetically-derived silica with single-walled carbon nanotubes to create a conductive matrix for immobilization of enzymes. Such a strategy not only allows simple integration into bio-devices but presents an opportunity to intimately interface an enzyme and manifest direct electron transfer features. Biologically-templated silica/carbon nanotube/enzyme composites were evaluated electrochemically and characterized by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Voltammetry of the ...
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