Bioelectrocatalysis of ethanol via PQQ-dependent dehydrogenases utilizing carbon nanomaterial supports

In bioelectrocatalysis, nanomaterials are typically used as a conductive bridge for the gap between the site of oxidation/reduction (i.e., enzymatic biocatalyst) and the current collector (electrode). In this paper, carbon nanomaterial supports have been employed in conjunction with heme-c containing pyrroloquinoline quinone-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase (PQQ-ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (PQQ-AldDH) oxidoreductase enzymes as oxidation catalysts to produce stable high surface area catalyst supports for the bioelectrocatalysis of ethanol in biofuel cells. The structure of PQQ-ADH and PQQ-AldDH allow for direct electron transfer (DET) between the enzymes and carbon nanomaterial support without the use of additional charge carrying chemical mediators. In this paper, the employment of nanomaterials are used to produce stable, high surface area catalyst supports which aid in enzyme adsorption and direct electron transfer. Fundamental DET studies were performed on both PQQ-ADH and PQQ-AldDH in order to understand the processes occurring at the electrode surface. Data shows a direct correlation between concentration of substrate and peak potential and peak current. Incorporating nanotubes into this technology has allowed an increase in the current density of ethanol/air biofuel cells by up to 14.5 fold and increased the power density by up to 18.0 fold.