Biofuel Cell Anodes Integrating NAD-Dependent Enzymes and Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Papers

The enzymatic biofuel cells are devices capable of harvesting chemical energy of organic compounds to generate electrical energy to power small portable devices. The limitation of such system is due to kinetic, ohmic and mass transport losses. The performance of the biofuel cell would be improved by improving the activity of the catalytic layer by increasing the surface area and enzyme load/ immobilization of the enzymes on the surface of the electrode, by decreasing the ohmic losses through the integration of highly conductive nanomaterials, and by decreasing the mass transport loses while applying a microfluidic system capable of feeding the biofuel to the bioelectrode. Optimum electrodes materials must simultaneously satisfy several criteria such as high electrical conductivity, significant attractive interactions with enzymes, high surface to volume ratio, and sufficiently large pore size to facilitate mass transport 6, . Additionally, high controlled surface chemistry must be satisfied. Carbon nanotubes are promising electrode materials for biofuel cells because of the combination of their high electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, thermal stability and chemical stability.