Scientists in Japan have developed a new biofuel powered power cell that they hope to one day use as a power source for devices like pacemakers, insulin pumps, and maybe even one day powered prosthetic limb replacements. Yuji Kamitaka, Seiya Tsujimura, Norihiko Setoyama, Tsutomu Kajino and Kenji Kano created the cell. The breakthrough seems to have come when they figured out a way to remove the need a mediating molecule that would be stable in two oxidation states. Normally this mediator molecule would speed up the transfer of the electrons, the Japanese team managed to do so with a simpler device.
Biofuel cells are energy conversion systems, which utilize enzymes or microorganisms as electrocatalysts and may operate under mild conditions (20–40 °C and near neutral pH).1–5 All compounds to be utilized by living things such as sugars, alcohols, amines, organic acids and hydrogen and also, in principle, other variety of large molecular-weight biomasses are possible substances for biofuel cells. There are varieties of redox enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of these substances in nature. These substances are oxidized with the aid of the corresponding redox enzymes and the electrons are transferred to the anode. At the cathode, the electrons are passed to dioxygen in ideal biofuel cells. The dioxygen reduction may be catalyzed by transition-metallic catalysts, but the metallic catalysts, even platinum, are not so powerful under near-neutral conditions. Some suitable redox enzymes (strictly speaking, oxidases) may be preferable to metallic catalysts as cathode catalysts in biofuel cells.6–10 Such enzyme-catalyzed electrode reaction is called bioelectrocatalysis. The reaction is classified into two types: one is direct electron transfer (DET) type, in which the electron transfer occurs directly between enzymes and electrodes, and the other is mediated electron transfer (MET) type, in which electron transfer mediators shuttle the electron between enzymes and electrodes to reduce the kinetic hindrance in the electron transfer between enzymes and electrodes.(via)
Much more technical data after the fold.
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