Electrochemical Evaluation of Rhus Venticifera Biocathodes for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Neutral Media with Application in Air-Breathing Hybrid Microfluidic Fuel Cells

摘要

In this work, a Rhus vernicifera laccase electrodes (RvL-Vulcan/Toray and RvL-ABTS-Vulcan/Toray) were prepared by adsorption method and evaluated toward oxygen reduction reaction by cyclic voltammetry. The characterization was complemented by FTIR with ATR, these results indicates the presence of bands corresponding to the presence of enzymatic material for both electrodes and ABTS in the RvL-ABTS-Vulcan/Toray. The biocathodes were evaluated in an air-breathing microfluidic fuel cell reported previously by our group. For these experiments, a hybrid air-breathing microfluidic fuel cell configuration was constructed by an Au-Vulcan/Toray anode and 5 mM Glucose/0.3 M KOH as anolyte and the RvL-Vulcan/Toray and RvL-ABTS-Vulcan/Toray as biocathodes and PBS 7 as catholyte solution. The results showed that the RvL-ABTS-Vulcan/Toray 16 mWcm~(-2) performance was better than RvL 3.4 mWcm~(-2). This result it is attributed to the presence of ABTS in the material inmobilized.