The influences of monosaccharide structure on power generation performance

Abstract In this study, the power generation performances of five monosaccharides (glucose, galactose, mannose, xylose, and arabinose) were examined using direct biomass fuel cells (DBFC) with methyl viologen (MV) as the electron mediator. The maximum power density obtained from the examined monosaccharides ranged from 0.272 to 0.437 m W cm−2. It was observed that galactose had resulted in the highest maximum power density, whereas arabinose had generated the lowest one. The 13C NMR results showed that the MV had been able to break the carbon-carbon bonds of monosaccharides. HPLC was used to analyze oxidation products of the monosaccharides, in which the results indicated that the oxidation products were small-molecule acids. This study's results revealed that the isomerization of the reducing sugars had caused the oxidation products of the five monosaccharides to become approximately the same, and the differences in the isomerization process had led to the variations in the electricity production performances.