Performance analysis of a bio fuel cell based on Lactate Dehydrogenase

摘要

Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), a NAD dependent oxidoreductase was immobilized on a 0.5mm gold wire using layer by layer assembly technique. LDH coated electrode was used as the anode of the fuel cell and a Pt wire of 0.5mm was used as the cathode. The electrodes were set up in a single chamber fuel cell where lactate solution acted as the fuel substrate. LDH coated anode catalyzed the oxidation of lactate to pyruvate while Pt was used to catalyze the reduction of oxygen to water. Three parameters wereselected to understand the behavior of the fuel cell under different load conditions. The parameters, lactate concentration, temperature of the cell and the flow rate, were varied within the physiological range to emulate conditions on the performance asan implantable fuel cell. The cell reported an average open circuit voltage of 266mV and an efficiency of 3.6%.