• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.550-556
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• 2022

The performance of enzymatic fuel cells that convert chemical energy contained in various organic molecules such as sugar, alcohol, organic acids, and amino acids into electrical energy is greatly affected by the cathode as well as the anode. This study aimed to develop a laccase-based cathode with high performance. An enzyme composite composed of an laccase, redox mediator, and carbon nanotubes was immobilized on the surface of electrode in multiple layers, and the effect of the number of layers and the presence or absence of carbon nanotubes on electrode performance was investigated. As the number of layers of the enzyme-mediator (Lac-(PVI-Os-dCl)) on the electrode surface increased, the amount of reduction current generated at the electrode increased. The enzyme-carbon nanotube-mediator composite electrode (Lac-SWCNTs-(PVI-Os-dCl)) generated a current 1.7 times greater than that of the Lac-(PVI-Os-dCl). It was found that the largest amount of current (10.1±0.1 µA) was generated in the electrode composed of two layers of Lac-(PVI-Os-dCl) and two layers of Lac-SWCNTs-(PVI-Os-dCl) in the evaluation of electrodes with different ratio of Lac-SWCNTs-(PVI-Os-dCl) and Lac-(PVI-Os-dCl). The maximum power density of the cell using the cathode composed of a single layer of Lac-(PVI-Os-dCl) and the cell using the optimized cathode were 0.46±0.05 and 1.23±0.04 µW/cm², respectively. In this study, it was demonstrated that the performance of cathode and the enzymatic fuel cell using the same can be improved by optimizing the layers of composites composed of laccase, redox mediator, and carbon nanotubes on the electrode surface.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.749-752
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• 2009

Anodized tubular titania ($TiO_2$) electrodes (ATTEs) are prepared and used as both the photoanode and the cathode substrate in a photoelectrochemical system designed to split water into hydrogen with the assistance of an enzyme and an external bias (solar cell). In particular, the ATTE used as the cathode substrate for the immobilization of the enzyme is prepared by two methods; adsorption and crosslinking. Results show that the optimized amount of enzyme is 10.98 units for the slurried enzyme, 3.66 units for the adsorbed one and 7.32 units for the crosslinked one, and the corresponding hydrogen evolution rates are 33.04, 148.58, and 234.88 umol/hr, respectively. The immobilized enzyme, specifically the chemically crosslinked one, seems to be much superior to the slurried enzyme, due to the enhanced charge-transfer process that is caused by the lower electrical resistance between the enzyme and the ATTE. This results in a greater number of accepted electrons and a larger amount of enzymes able to deal with the electrons.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.507-514
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• 2022

There is growing interest in sustainable energy sources that can reduce fossil fuel dependence and environmental pollution while meeting rapidly growing energy demands. Hydrogen have been investigated as one of the ideal alternative energies because it has relatively high efficiency without emitting pollutants. The light-sensitized enzymatic (LSE) system, which uses hydrogenase-enzymes, is one of the methods towards economically feasible system configurations that enhance the rate of hydrogen generation. Hydrogenase is an enzyme that catalyzes a reversible reaction that oxidizes molecular hydrogen or produces molecular hydrogen from protons and electrons. In this paper, utilization of [NiFe]-hydrogenase (from Pyrococcus furiosus) in photoelectrochemical hydrogen production system such as handling, immobilization, physicochemical and electrochemical analysis, process parameters, etc. was introduced.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.281-286
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• 2005

We created a new graphite-Cu(II) electrode and found that the electrode could catalyze FADH$_2$ oxidation and FAD reduction coupled to electricity production and consumption, respectively. In a fuel cell with graphite-Cu(II) anode and graphite-Fe(III) cathode, the electricity was produced by coupling to the spontaneous oxidation of FADH$_2$ Fumarate and xylose were not produced from the enzymatic oxidation of succinate and xylitol without FAD, respectively, but produced with FAD. The production of fumarate and xylose in the reactor with FAD electrochemically regenerated was maximally 2- 5 times higher than that in the reactor with FAD. By using this new electrode with catalytic function, a bioelectrocatalysts can be engineered; namely, oxidoreductase (e.g., lactate dehydrogenase) and FAD can function for biotransformation without an electron mediator and second oxidoreductase for cofactors recycling.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.373-378
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• 2021

The study aimed to develop a high-power enzymatic electrode for a wearable fuel cell that generates electricity utilizing lactate present in a sweat as fuel. Anode was fabricated by immobilizing lactate oxidase (LOx) on flexible carbon paper. As the lactate concentration in the electrolyte solution increased, the amount of current generated by catalysis of lactate oxidase increased. The immobilized LOx generated 1.5-times greater oxidation current density in the presence of gold nanoparticles than carbon paper only. Bilirubin oxidase (BOD)-immobilized cathode generated a larger amount of reduction current in the electrolyte saturated with oxygen than purged with nitrogen. A fuel cell composed of two electrodes was fabricated and cell voltage was measured under different discharge current. At the discharge current density of 66.7 ㎂/cm², the cell voltage was 0.5±0.0 V leading to maximum cell power density of 33.8±2.5 ㎼/cm².

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.244-249
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• 2007

The present work considers the concept of enzymatic photoelectrochemical generation of hydrogen through water splitting using a Xe lamp as a source of light. A solar cell was applied to the system in order to shift the level of electrochemical energy of the system, resulting in the rate of hydrogen production at $43\;{\mu}mol/(cm^2{\times}hr)$ in cathodic compartment with an anodized tubular $TiO_2$ electrode(ATTE, $5^{\circ}C$/1hr in 0.5 wt% HF-$650^{\circ}C$/5hr). The trend of the rate of hydrogen production, for the ATTEs with different annealing temperature from $350^{\circ}C$ to $850^{\circ}C$, fairly well coincided with the photoelectrical properties measured by potentiostat. The actual chemical bias through imposition of two electrolytes of different pHs between anode(13.68) and cathode(7.5) was 0.24eV.