Miniature Biofuel Cell as a Potential Power Source for Glucose-Sensing Contact Lenses
Abstract
A microscale membrane-less biofuel cell, capable of generating electrical energy from human lachrymal liquid, was developed by utilizing the ascorbate and oxygen naturally present in tears as fuel and oxidant. The biodevice is based on three-dimensional nanostructured gold electrodes covered with abiotic (conductive organic complex) and biological (redox enzyme) materials functioning as efficient anodic and cathodic catalysts, respectively. Three-dimensional nanostructured electrodes were fabricated by modifying 100 μm gold wires with 17 nm gold nanoparticles, which were further modified with tetrathiafulvalene-tetracyanoquinodimethane conducting complex to create the anode and with Myrothecium verrucaria bilirubin oxidase to create the biocathode. When operated in human tears, the biodevice exhibited the following characteristics: an open circuit voltage of 0.54 V, a maximal power density of 3.1 μW cm(-2) at 0.25 V and 0.72 μW cm(-2) at 0.4 V, with a stable current density output of over 0.55 μA cm(-2) at 0.4 V for 6 h of continuous operation. These findings support our proposition that an ascorbate/oxygen biofuel cell could be a suitable power source for glucose-sensing contact lenses to be used for continuous health monitoring by diabetes patients.
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Wearable biofuel cells are promising for powering non-invasive wearable platforms.
“Wearable biofuel cells, in particular, are promising for the powering of non-invasive wearable platforms as they harvest energy from the same biofluids of interest and can operate as self-powered biosensors, but yet still suffer from the same stability issues discussed above42,193,194.”
From Wearable biosensors for healthcare monitoring (2019) · cites this paper as [193]
Wearable biofuel cells harvest energy from the same biofluids of interest.
“Wearable biofuel cells, in particular, are promising for the powering of non-invasive wearable platforms as they harvest energy from the same biofluids of interest and can operate as self-powered biosensors, but yet still suffer from the same stability issues discussed above42,193,194.”
From Wearable biosensors for healthcare monitoring (2019) · cites this paper as [193]
Wearable biofuel cells can operate as self-powered biosensors.
“Wearable biofuel cells, in particular, are promising for the powering of non-invasive wearable platforms as they harvest energy from the same biofluids of interest and can operate as self-powered biosensors, but yet still suffer from the same stability issues discussed above42,193,194.”
From Wearable biosensors for healthcare monitoring (2019) · cites this paper as [193]
Wearable biofuel cells still suffer from stability issues.
“Wearable biofuel cells, in particular, are promising for the powering of non-invasive wearable platforms as they harvest energy from the same biofluids of interest and can operate as self-powered biosensors, but yet still suffer from the same stability issues discussed above42,193,194.”
From Wearable biosensors for healthcare monitoring (2019) · cites this paper as [193]
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- Authors
- Falk, M., Andoralov, V., Silow, M., Toscano, M. D., & Shleev, S.
- Affiliations
- Malmö University (SE)
- Novozymes (Denmark) (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Shleev, Sergey
- Venue
- Analytical Chemistry
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2013-06-19
- Volume
- 85
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 6342-6348
- ISSN
- 0003-2700 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-6882
- OpenAlex
- W1973856370
- Cited by
- 173
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 11
- FWCI
- 6.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Analytical Chemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Malmö University Publications (Malmö University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Electrochemical sensors and biosensors
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Microbial Fuel Cells and Bioremediation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Enzyme Catalysis and Immobilization
- Keywords
- biofuel cells, human tears, bilirubin oxidase, Myrothecium verrucaria, gold nanoparticles, nanostructured electrodes, diabetes monitoring, continuous glucose monitoring, wearable biosensors
- MeSH terms
- Bioelectric Energy Sources, Contact Lenses, Glucose, Humans, Male, Miniaturization, Tears, Biosensing Techniques
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