Development of an enhanced hybrid bi-catalytic electrode containing bimetallic composite catalyst and immobilized enzyme for complete glucose electrooxidation

We describe an enzymatic fuel cell (EFC) that can electrooxidize glucose completely. The EFC contains the hybrid Ni@Pt-CNT/OxOx bioanode, composed of a bimetallic composite catalyst (Ni@Pt-CNT) and the enzyme oxalate oxidase (OxOx), which can cleave carbon-carbon bonds. Ni@Pt-CNT/OxOx displayed 3-fold higher catalytic activity in the presence than in the absence of glucose (1.3 and 0.4 mA cm−2, respectively), indicating that Ni@Pt-CNT and OxOx acted synergistically. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed that Ni@Pt-CNT/OxOx had higher charge transfer resistance and double layer capacitance than Ni@Pt-CNT. Long-term bulk electrolysis (18 h) revealed that the EFC operating with Ni@Pt-CNT/OxOx presented better current density and stability than the electrochemical cell operating with Ni@Pt-CNT, so deep glucose electrooxidation generated energy. The glucose oxidation products detected by HPLC-UV/RID confirmed that glucose was fully electrooxidized, and that 24 electrons were harvested from it. The hybrid Ni@Pt-CNT/OxOx bioanode developed herein could be used in cascade reactions, to provide an EFC with promising application in self-powered electronic devices.