An oxygen-independent and membrane-less glucose biobattery/supercapacitor hybrid device

Enzymatic biofuel cells can generate electricity directly from the chemical energy of biofuels in physiological fluids, but their power density is significantly limited by the performance of the cathode which is based on oxygen reduction for in vivo applications. An oxygen-independent and membrane-less glucose biobattery was prepared that consists of a dealloyed nanoporous gold (NPG) supported glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) bioanode, immobilised with the assistance of conductive polymer/Os redox polymer composites, and a solid-state NPG/MnO2 cathode. In a solution containing 10 mM glucose, a maximum power density of 2.3 µW cm−2 at 0.21 V and an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 0.49 V were registered as a biobattery. The potential of the discharged MnO2 could be recovered, enabling a proof-of-concept biobattery/supercapacitor hybrid device. The resulting device exhibited a stable performance for 50 cycles of self-recovery and galvanostatic discharge as a supercapacitor at 0.1 mA cm−2 over a period of 25 h. The device could be discharged at current densities up to 2 mA cm−2 supplying a maximum instantaneous power density of 676 μW cm−2, which is 294 times higher than that from the biobattery alone. A mechanism for the recovery of the potential of the cathode, analogous to that of RuO2 (Electrochim. Acta 42(23), 3541–3552) is described.