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Updated: May 22, 2026

Bridging the Bio-Electronic Interface with Biofabrication
Published on: June 6, 2012
A glucose bio-battery prototype based on a GDH/poly(methylene blue) bioanode and a graphite cathode with an
Jen-Yuan Wang1, Po-Chin Nien, Chien-Hsiao Chen
1Institute of Polymer Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.
Abstract:
A glucose bio-battery prototype independent of oxygen is proposed based on a glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) bioanode and a graphite cathode with an iodide/tri-iodide redox couple. At the bioanode, a NADH electrocatalyst, poly(methylene blue) (PMB), which can be easily grown on the electrode (screen-printed carbon paste electrode, SPCE) by electrodeposition, is harnessed and engineered. We find that carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are capable of significantly increasing the deposition amount of PMB and thus enhancing the PMB's electrocatalysis of NADH oxidation and the glucose bio-battery's performance. The choice of the iodide/tri-iodide redox couple eliminates the dependence of oxygen for this bio-battery, thus enabling the bio-battery with a constant current-output feature similar to that of the solar cells. The present glucose bio-battery prototype can attain a maximum power density of 2.4 μW/cm(2) at 25 °C.
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