Biofuel cells are energy sources that rely on biocatalysts for the transformation of renewable feedstocks to electrical power via bioelectrochemical pathways. The overall objective of this project is to develop a biofuel cell that relies on glucose, a sugar derived from lignocellulosic biomass, as the sole carbon fuel source for electrical power generation. The device will generate electrons from glucose by a series of enzymatic reactions which utilize commercial enzymes as the catalytic elements. The biofuel cell will contain an assembly of biocatalysts on high surface area electrodes composed of gold microfibers or composite gold carbon nanotube fibers. The high surface area will enable the immobilization and stabilization of a high density of enzymes, and will allow for better diffusion of substrates to and from the electrode. The proposed research will provide insight into the fabrication of enzymatic electrode on gold microfibers as the scaffold for construction of a practical biofuel cell. Towards this end, there are three research tasks: (1) Microfiber fabrication; (2) enzyme immobilization and electrochemical redox properties; (3) biofuel cell design, fabrication and study of effects of flow on performance.
Broader Impacts
The proposed effort will integrate the proposed research into education activities with a multi-tiered approach to training and mentoring, with emphasis on the recruitment and training of women and under-represented minorities, and co-mentoring experiences for undergrads and graduate students. Outreach activities include school visits, workshops at the annual Carnegie Science Center SciTech Festival, middle school summer camp and training of high school students. A simplified version of the biofuel cell will be integrated with K-12 educational activities via the existing research experiences for teachers (RET) and mobile lab initiative.
