Sandwich Biobattery with Enzymatic Cathode and Zinc Anode for Powering Sensors

Abstract

Carbon paper covered with naphthylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes was used as the conducting support for the construction of a biocathode in a hybrid biofuel cell (biobattery). Laccase Cerrena unicolor enzyme was employed as the catalyst for the 4e reduction of oxygen and a zinc disc covered with hopeite was the anode. Carbon nanotubes increase the working surface area of the electrode and provide direct contact with the active sites of laccase. Biobattery parameters under externally applied resistance, and power-time dependencies under flow cell conditions were evaluated. The system including the sandwich biobattery connected to a simple sensor was employed for monitoring the neurotransmitter – catechol. The biobattery powered sensor gave oxidation currents linearly dependent on catechol in the range 0 – 2 mM and with a correlation coefficient of 0.998. We show that the zinc – air biobattery with laccase as the cathode catalyst can be integrated with analytical devices and power them even in long-time monitoring experiments.

A Review of the Use of GPEs in Zinc-Based Batteries. A Step Closer to Wearable Electronic Gadgets and Smart Textiles

“…Another interesting work, outlining one more time the relation of zinc-based batteries with biomedical research, is the one done by Majdecka et al [327] with the oxygen reduction reaction active enzyme Laccase Cerrena unicolor. These last two research works by Huang at al.…”