关键词: 生物燃料电池, 生物电化学, 单壁碳纳米管, 乙醇脱氢酶, 胆红素氧化酶

Abstract: This study demonstrates the performance of a new type alcohol/O₂ biofuel cell assembled by using alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and bilirubin oxidase (BOD) as the biocatalysts of the bioanode and the biocathode for the bioelectrocatalytic oxidation of alcohol and reduction of oxygen, respectively. To construct the bioanode and the biocathode, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were used. In the bioanode, SWCNTs were used as the supporting materials for both methylene green (MG) which was used as the electrocatalyst for the oxidation of NADH and ADH. The as-constructed MG/ADH/SWCNTs-based bioanode exhibits a good activity toward the bioelectrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol. In the biocathode, the use of SWCNTs essentially facilities the direct electron transfer of BOD, and thereby enables the bioelectrocatalytic reduction of oxygen into water at a relatively high potential. An ethanol/O2 biofuel cell configuration was then assembled by utilizing the MG/ADH/SWCNTs as the bioanode and the BOD/SWCNTs as the biocathode. The biofuel cell gives a maximum power output of 11 μW·cm^-2 in the presence of 40 mmol·L^-1 ethanol as biofuel under ambient air in phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). Finally, we demonstrate that the ethanol/O₂ biofuel cell could be powered by commercially available Vodak, giving a maximum power output of 3.7 μW·cm^-2.

Key words: biofuel cells, bioelectrochemistry, single-walled carbon nanotubes, alcohol dehydrogenase, bilirubin oxidase