Living battery – biofuel cells operating in vivo in clams

The biofuel elements on the basis of the nanocarbon materials

“…In 2012, a series of works on creation of hybrid systems such as "BFC-living organism" was published [32,33]. The research subject is not new: about a decade was discussed the possibility of oxidized substrates receiving for BFC, implanted into an organism, from living being organic resources.…”

An enzymatic biofuel cell based on electrically wired polyphenol oxidase and glucose oxidase operating under physiological conditions

“…Since the first example reported about glucose-O 2 biofuel implanted in the abdomen of a rat [17], different strategies regarding the method of implantation have been reported [18][19][20][21]. New implantable systems have been tested in cockroaches [20] and molluscs, in snails [18] and clams [19]. Nevertheless, for implantation, the activity of bioelectrodes must be stable in physiological fluids.…”

Enzymatic Glucose Biofuel Cell and its Application

“…Thus, the choice of the anodic and cathodic material depends on several factors including but not limited to the biocatalyst to catalyze the electrode reactions; the integration of the biocatalyst with the appropriate physicochemical transduction element for generating energy from the various concentration of glucose; effective transduction element surface area in order to increase the number of adsorption sites for the biocatalyst; ease of fabrication; and enhanced durability to ensure extended functional life time of biofuel cell devices for implantation [11][12][13][14][15]. Significant advancements have been made in micro-/nanostructured electrode design to enable electron transfer from the active center of the redox enzyme to the current collector and to increase the lifetime of such devices.…”

“…Therefore, dependable power harvesting technologies are required for sustaining implantable bioelectronics operation in vivo for the lifetime of the patient without the need of continuous battery replacements [4]. Advances in implantable bioelectronics such as cardio-stimulators, drug delivery, and glucose biosensors make feasible the concept of using glucose biofuel cells to power low-powered biomedical devices [2,13,64]. It shows that conceptually a biofuel cell can harvest electrical power from cerebrospinal fluid when implanted within the subarachnoid space as illustrated in (Figure 6).…”