Development of glucose oxidase-based bioanodes for enzyme fuel cell applications

Abstract

We fabricated an enzyme fuel cell (EFC) device based on glucose as fuel and glucose oxidase (GOx) as biocatalyst. As a strategy to improve GOx stability, preserving at the same time the enzyme catalytic activity, we propose an immobilization procedure to entrap GOx in a polymer matrix based on Nafion and multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Circular dichroism (CD) spectra were recorded to study changes in the 3D structure of GOx that might be generated by the immobilization procedure. The comparison between the CD features of GOx immobilized and free in solution indicates that the shape of the spectra and position of peaks do not significantly change. The bioelectrocatalytic activity toward glucose oxidation of immobilized GOx was studied by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry experiments. Such electrochemical experiments allow monitoring the rate of GOx-catalyzed glucose oxidation and extrapolating GOx kinetic parameters. Results demonstrate that immobilized GOx has high catalytic efficiency, due the maintaining of regular and well-ordered structure of the immobilized enzyme, as indicated by spectroscopic findings. Once investigated the electrode structure-property relationship, an EFC device was assembled using the GOx-based bioanode, and sulfonated poly ether ether ketone as electrolyte membrane.Polarization and power density curves of the complete EFC device were acquired, demonstrating the suitability of the immobilization strategy and materials to be used in EFCs.

Electrochemical Studies on Glucose Oxidation in an Enzymatic Fuel Cell with Enzyme Immobilized on to Reduced Graphene Oxide Surface

“…There was no prominent redox peaks found while rGO/C‐felt was used as working electrode (without any enzyme) (Figure 6 b).The observed redox peaks are likely due to hydrogen per‐oxide oxidation and O 2 reduction as mentioned by Mecheri et al. 31 and Shan et al. 32.These two curves indicate quasi reversible nature for glucose oxidation onto both rGO/GOx/C‐felt and rGO/AuNp/GOx/C‐felt electrode surfaces.…”

Enzyme production ofd-gluconic acid and glucose oxidase: successful tales of cascade reactions

“…An open circuit voltage at pH 5.0 of around 960 mV was obtained, and the electrode could sustain a continuous discharge current of 30 μA for about 31.75 h. 355 Later, glucose oxidase was entrapped in Nafion and multiwalled carbon nanotubes as an anode to build an EFC device that employed sulfonated polyether ketone as an electrolyte membrane. 356 In another paper, glucose oxidase was immobilized on cross-linked carbon-chitosan, which functioned as a conductive enzymatic membrane for electrode applications in biofuel cells. 357 The conductivity was increased by modifying the matrix with ferrocene derivatives.…”

Medical waste to energy: experimental study

“…Among the blood and saliva components, glucose -a carbohydrate that has a major role in the bioenergetics of animals -can be quickly oxidized, therefore can be considered as the primary source of electrical energy in dentistry waste. The biocatalyst most suitably designated for the conversion of glucose is glucose oxidase (GOx), an oxidoreduttase-type enzyme commonly found in many fungus and bacteria, which catalyzes the oxidation of β-D glucose into β-Dglucono lactone (4,5). This paper reports on the development of materials and strategies to design GOx-based EFC devices to produce energy from the oxidation of glucose coming from dentistry waste.…”