基于柔性基底的生物燃料电池组的研究

Biofuel cell (BFC)　has gained considerable attention for its simple structure, mild operating conditions, high efficiency，the ability to utilize flexible high energy density fuels. However,the poor power density is the bottle-neck problem in the real application of biofuel cells. The design of more powerful BFCs is one of the major challenges for real application of BFCs. To solve this problem, multiple BFCs can be stacked together and connected to chieve useful power output. However, the majority of the bioelectrodes use hard materials and the brittle nature of these materials could make BFCs fragile, and the BFCs built on these materials are bulky and rigid, which are difficult to scale-up and be integrated into a portable electronics system for practical use. The flexible bioelectrodes are light weight, allowing bending, folding and wrapping, which are easily to be integrated or mininature and offers important commercial advantages of lower cost and improved portability. With the increasing demand for modern electronics, portable medical products, and compact energy devices, the development of flexible electrodes is of considerable important..In this project, the biomolecules will be immobilized on some flexible materials including polyimide film and cellulose material (e.g. paper or cloth), which have been proven to be biocompatible, to build up the biofuel cell.We will also build up multi-BFC stacks by connecting multiple units together in a number of different ways, in series, parallel or series/parallel, to step-up the voltage, current or power output, respectively. This project will promote the research and real application of BFCs.

生物燃料电池结构简单、原料来源广泛、能量利用率高、反应条件温和，可以为植入式电子器件、生物传感器和微芯片等设备提供功力。但单个生物燃料电池输出功率较低，难以满足实际应用的需要。因此，如何提高生物燃料电池的输出功率是其商业化的关键问题。将多个生物燃料电池单元组装成燃料电池组可以提高电池的能量输出。但是,酶型生物燃料电池一般使用刚性材料作为电极，需要体积较多的电解液，这些特点都不利于生物燃料电池的集成化。相反，柔性电极可以折叠、卷曲，更易于实现电极的集成和小型化。本项目将采用生物相容性好的纤维素和聚酰亚胺柔性材质作为生物分子的固定基底，制备生物电极，研究其生物电化学响应；并利用其构建柔性生物燃料电池，根据极化曲线的结果分析限制因素，提高单个电极的性能。通过组装电池单元实现集成化的生物燃料电池组，研究电池结构对电池组性能的影响，为进一步开发集成化的小功率柔性电子器件提供理论指导。

本项目围绕着柔性酶燃料电池的构建，取得了一系列有特色的成果。主要包括三方面内容：1）在柔性的纸基表面面成功构建了生物电极，在此基础上，将生物阴极和生物阳极组装在一起，成功构建了以果糖、O2为燃料的单室酶生物燃料电池，并通过串联、并联等方式成功的将该电池组装为电池组；2) 在弹性硅橡胶的表面构建了以葡萄糖和氧气为燃料的双室型的酶燃料电池，考察了电池以葡萄糖溶液和多种饮料为燃料来源时电池的性能；3）构建了基于 TiO2 的光阳极，并将其与柔性的硅橡胶阴极组合在一起，成功地构建了单室的光-生物复合电池，该电池具有很好的稳定性。在柔性基底上构建酶型生物燃料电池不仅可以减小电池的体积，降低电池的成本，更重要的是可以扩大电池的应用，尤其是在植入式医疗设备中的应用。