Implantable glucose fuel cell

In this section, the enzymes, and associated substrates, used as biocatalysts in anodes are presented. For the development of biocatalytic anodes, there is a wide range of fuels available for use as substrates, such as alcohols, lactate, hydrogen, fructose, sucrose, all of which can be oxidized by biocatalysts. The fuel that is the most widely considered, however, in the context of an implantable biocatalytic fuel cell is glucose. We shall focus our attention on this fuel, but will mention briefly research on the use of some other fuels in biocatalytic anodes. 

Kerzemnacher S., J. Ducr6e, R. Zengerle, F. von Stetten, Enragy harvesting by implantable abiotically catalyzed glucose fuel cells, J. Power Sources, 182, 1 (2008). 

Kerzenmacher S, Ducree J, Zengerle R, von Stetten E. Energy harvesting by implantable abioticaUy catalyzed glucose fuel cells. J Power Sources 2008 182 1-17. 

Sharma T, Hu Y, StoUer M, Feldman M, Ruoff RS, Ferrari M, Zhang X. Mesoporous silica as a membrane for ultra-thin implantable direct glucose fuel cells. Lab Chip 2011 11 2460 2465. 

Possibilities for Enzymes in Implantable Fuel Cells There is significant and increasing demand for power supplies for implantable medical devices, including continuous glucose monitors for diabetic patients, thermal sensors for... 

Classes 1 and 2 are closely related The reactants available for implantable power, such as blood-borne glucose, lactate, or oxygen, are ambient in that environment. These two classes are distinct, however, in that an ambient-fueled cell need not be implanted and utilizes plant- or waste-derived fuels, whereas the implantable cell utilizes animal-derived fuels. Class 3 is unique because it competes with well-established conventional fuel cell technology. 

An enzymatic glucose/02 fuel cell which was implanted in a living plant was presented by Heller and coworkers [147[. 

Mediated enzyme electrodes were also realized on combined microscale and nanoscale supports [300]. Bioelectrocatalytic hydrogels have also been realized by co-assembling electron-conducting metallopolypeptides with bifunctional building blocks [301]. More recently, redox-modified polymers have been employed to build biofuel cells [25, 70, 302, 303]. In 2003, an enzymatic glucose/02 fuel cell which was implanted in a living plant was introduced [147]. 

The concepts of an artificial heart can be looked at in terms of a fuel cell driving an electric motor-driven pump (32), This was a program supported by the NIH in the 1970 s. The concept (Fig. 7) was that the heart could be run on a fuel cell consisting of one glucose-based electrode for oxidative power, the other electrode being used for the reduction of oxygen. A fuel cell was implanted in a dog, and ran for... 

Beginning in 1968, the implantable prototypes of fuel cells intended to power a pacemaker were developed by the American Hospital Supply Corporation [6], the Michael Reese Hospital [8], Siemens [13], and Tyco [14]. Industries also invested in the organochemical redox systems in order to develop devices that are able to oxidize not only glucose but also other fuels, such as amino acids [15]. However, the introduction of lithium iodine batteries as a power supply for pacemakers, and the improvement in its lifetime, led to a change in the direction of the application of glucose/02 fuel cells toward sensor technology [16,17]. 

---