Biological Fuel Cells with Drugstore Products

Rebecca Grandrath^1, and Claudia Bohrmann-Linde¹

¹Department of Chemistry Education, University of Wuppertal, Gaußstr. 20, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany

Cite this paper:
Rebecca Grandrath and Claudia Bohrmann-Linde. Biological Fuel Cells with Drugstore Products. World Journal of Chemical Education. 2022; 10(4):149-154. doi: 10.12691/wjce-10-4-4

Abstract

The term fuel cell is used to describe an enormous variety of different systems. In addition to hydrogen, other fuels and various catalysts can be used, thus opening up a wide range of applications. If microorganisms or enzymes are used as catalysts, the systems are referred to as biological fuel cells [1]. So far, they are underrepresented at school [2]. To give an impulse to teachers, here we present simple hands-on experiments on biological fuel cells with baker´s yeast [3], lactic acid bacteria and lactase as biocatalysts for students in grades nine to twelve. As these three biocatalysts are drugstore products, the experimental set-ups are low-cost and harmless. Furthermore, the students may already be familiar with the metabolism of yeast or the field of application of lactic acid bacteria and lactase from their everyday lives, so that the working principle of the fuel cells can be easily understood during the experiment.

Keywords:
biological fuel cell microbial fuel cell enzymatic fuel cell baker´s yeast lactic acid bacteria lactase hands-on experiment education for sustainable development sustainability

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Katz, E., Bollella, P. (2021). Fuel cells and Biofuel Cells: From Past to Perspectives. Israel Journal of Chemistry 61, 68-84.
[2]	Grandrath, R., Bohrmann-Linde, C. (2020). Fuel cells in the chemistry classroom - a brief survey among German chemistry teachers. ARiSE 1/3, 13-16.
[3]	Grandrath, R., Bohrmann-Linde, C. (2019). Teaching Sustainability in the Chemistry Classroom: Exploring Fuel Cells in Simple Hands-on Experiments with Hydrogen, Sugar and Alcohol. World journal of chemical education 7/2, 172-178.
[4]	Davis, F., Higson, S. P. J. (2007). Biofuel cells - recent advances and applications. Biosensors & bioelectronics 22/7, 1224-1235.
[5]	Palmore, G. T. R., Whitesides, G. M. (1994). Microbial and Enzymatic Biofuel Cells. In: ACS Symposium Series. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 271-290.
[6]	Kaiser, P., Reich, S., Leykam, D., Willert-Porada, M., Greiner, A., Freitag, R. (2017). Electrogenic single-species biocomposites as anodes for microbial fuel cells. Macromolecular Bioscience 17, 1-10.
[7]	Santoro, C., Arbizzani, C., Erable, B., Ieropoulos, I. (2017). Microbial fuel cells. From fundamentals to applications. A review. Journal of power sources 356, 225-244.
[8]	Logan, B. E., Hamelers, B., Rozendal, R., Schröder, U., Keller, J., Freguia, S., Aelterman, P., Verstraete, W., Rabaey, K. (2006). Microbial fuel cells: methodology and technology. Environmental Science & Technology 40/17, 5181-5192.
[9]	Kumar, R., Singh, L., Zularisam, A. W., Hai, F. I. (2018). Microbial fuel cell is emerging as a versatile technology. A review on its possible applications, challenges and strategies to improve the performances. Int J Energy Res 42/2, 369-394.
[10]	Rasmussen, M., Abdellaoui, S., Minteer, S. D. (2016). Enzymatic biofuel cells: 30 years of critical advancements. Biosensors & bioelectronics 76, 91-102.
[11]	Karim, N. A., Yang, H. (2021). Mini-Review: Recent Technologies of Electrode and System in the Enzymatic Biofuel Cell (EBFC). Applied Sciences 11/11, 5197.
[12]	Jeerapan, I., Sempionatto, J. R., Wang, J. (2020). On‐Body Bioelectronics: Wearable Biofuel Cells for Bioenergy Harvesting and Self‐Powered Biosensing. Adv. Funct. Mater. 30/29, 1906243.
[13]	Fischer, C., Fraiwan, A., Choi, S. (2016). A 3D paper-based enzymatic fuel cell for self-powered, low-cost glucose monitoring. Biosensors & bioelectronics 79, 193-197.
[14]	Ge, J., Schirhagl, R., Zare, R. N. (2011). Glucose-Driven Fuel Cell Constructed from Enzymes and Filter Paper. J. Chem. Educ. 88/9, 1283-1286.
[15]	Cosnier, S., Le Goff, A., Holzinger, M. (2014). Towards glucose biofuel cells implanted in human body for powering artificial organs: Review. Electrochemistry communications. 38, 19-23.
[16]	Morozova, O. V., Shumakovich, G. P., Gorbacheva, M. A., Shleev, S., Yaropolov, A. I. (2007). “Blue” Laccases. Biochemistry (Moscow) 72/10, 1396-1412.
[17]	Cypionka, H. (2010). Grundlagen der Mikrobiologie, 4. Aufl. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
[18]	Bresson, J.-L., Flynn, A., Heinonen, M., Korhonen, H., Løvik, M., Martin, A., Przyrembel, H., Salminen, S., Strain, S., Tetens, I., van den Berg, H., van Loveren, H., Verhagen, H., Gueimonde, M., Moseley, B., Strobel, S., Szajewska, H. (2009). Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to lactase enzyme and breaking down lactose (ID 1697, 1818) pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). EFSA Journal 7/9, 1-13.
[19]	Niehr, H. (2017). Immer mehr Laktoseintolerante. More and more lactose intolerant. https://de.statista.com/infografik/7565/umfrage-zu-laktoseintoleranz/ (letzter Zugriff am 25.11.2022).
[20]	Porciúncula González, C., Giacomini, C., Irazoqui, G. (2019). Survey of ß-Galactosidases properties: applications to transglycosylation process. In: Beta-galactosidase. Properties, structure and functions. Kras, E. (Hrsg.). Nova Science Publishers, New York, 65-116.
[21]	Sedzro, D. M., Bellah, S. F., Akbar, H., Billah, S. (2018). Structure, Function, Application and Modification Strategy of ß -Galactosidase. Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Reviews 1/1, 10-16.
[22]	Grandrath, R. (2021). Brennstoffzell-Systeme mit Fokus auf biologischen Brennstoffzellen: Entwicklung und Optimierung von schulgeeigneten Experimenten, Konzepten und Medien. Dissertation. Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Wuppertal.
[23]	Belitz, H.-D., Grosch, W., Schieberle, P. (2008). Lehrbuch der Lebensmittelchemie, 6. Aufl. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.