What Is a Biofuel Cell?

A device that uses biomass energy according to the principle of a fuel cell. Can be divided into indirect fuel cells and direct fuel cells. A power generation device that uses enzymes or microbial tissues as a catalyst to convert the chemical energy of fuel into electrical energy.

Biofuel cells are

Wide range of fuel sources:

Biofuel cells can be divided into microbial fuel cells and enzyme-based biofuel cells according to the type of catalyst:

1. Microbial Fuel Cells (MicrobialFuelCells): refers to the use of the entire microbial cells as a catalyst, relying on a suitable electron transfer medium for efficient electron transfer between biological components and electrodes.

2, Enzymatic Biofuel Cells (EnzymaticBiofuleCells) is a device that uses enzymes as biocatalysts to convert chemical energy in fuels into electrical energy through bioelectrochemical pathways. Biofuel cells can be divided into direct biofuel cells and indirect biofuel cells according to the mode of electron transfer.

3. Direct Biofuel Cells: Fuel reacts on the electrode, and electrons are directly transferred from the fuel molecules to the electrode. The role of the biocatalyst is to catalyze the reaction of the fuel on the electrode surface.

4. Indirect Biofuel Cells: The fuel does not react on the electrodes, but reacts in the electrolyte or elsewhere. The electrons are carried to the electrodes by redox-active media. ^[1]

As a kind of energy conversion and supply device, biofuel cell has its own characteristics that determine its unique applications. These applications are mainly reflected in two

The main factors affecting the performance of biofuel cells are:

The rate of fuel oxidation; the rate of electron transfer from the catalyst to the electrode; the resistance of the loop; the rate of protons passing through the membrane to the cathode, and the rate of reduction on the cathode. Due to the high efficiency of biocatalytic fuel oxidation rate is not the rate control step of the whole process. Because the inactive part of the cell membrane of the microorganism or the enzyme protein causes a great resistance to the electron transfer, the rate of electron transfer from the catalyst to the electrode determines the speed of the entire process. At present, the methods for increasing the electron transfer rate mainly include using a redox molecule as a mediator, and connecting an enzyme catalyst and an electrode through a conductive polymer membrane. In addition, in order to increase the proton transfer rate and reduce the battery volume, biofuel cells without separators and mediators have become research hotspots. ^[2]