Artigo Revisado por pares

Organelle-based biofuel cells: Immobilized mitochondria on carbon paper electrodes

2008; Elsevier BV; Volume: 53; Issue: 23 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.electacta.2008.01.074

ISSN

1873-3859

Autores

Robert L. Arechederra, Shelley D. Minteer,

Tópico(s)

Supercapacitor Materials and Fabrication

Resumo

This paper details the development of a mitochondria-based biofuel cell. We show that mitochondria can be immobilized at a carbon electrode surface and remain intact and viable. The electrode-bound mitochondria drive complete oxidation of pyruvate as shown by Carbon-13 NMR and serve as the anode of the biofuel cell where they convert the chemical energy in a biofuel (such as pyruvate) into electrical energy. These are the first organelle-based fuel cells. Researchers have previously used isolated enzymes and complete microbes for fuel cells, but this is the first evidence that organelles can support fuel cell-based energy conversion. These biofuel cells provide power densities of 0.203 ± 0.014 mW/cm2, which is in between the latest immobilized enzyme-based biofuel cells and microbial biofuel cells, while providing the efficiency of microbial biofuel cells.

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