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Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Solar-Driven Electrochemical Green Fuel Production from CO2 and Water Using Ti3C2Tx MXene-Supported CuZn and NiCo Catalysts
Published on: November 7, 2025
Visible-light-enhanced electrocatalysis and bioelectrocatalysis coupled in a miniature glucose/air biofuel cell
Lingling Zhang1, Zhikun Xu, Baohua Lou
1State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun Jilin,130022 (PR China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 (PR China).
Abstract:
A glucose/air biofuel cell (BFC) that can convert both chemical and light energy into electricity is described. Polyterthiophene (pTTh), a photoresponsive conducting polymer, serves as cathode and catalyzes the reduction of oxygen. Taking advantage of the good environmental stability and exceptional optical properties of pTTh, the assembled BFC exhibits excellent stability and a fast photoresponse with an open-circuit voltage (V(oc)) of 0.50 V and a maximum power output density (P(max)) of 23.65 μW cm(-2) upon illumination by visible light of 10 mW cm(-2) , which is an enhancement of ca. 22 times as compared to P(max) in the dark. Additionally, we propose a possible mechanism for this enhancement. Fabricating a BFC in this manner provides an energy conversion model that offers high efficiency at low cost, paving an avenue for practical solar energy conversion on a large scale.
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