Biofuel Cell LDRD | ScienceGate

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease that must be carefully managed to prevent serious complications such as cardiovascular disease, retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy. Self-monitoring of blood glucose is a crucial tool for managing diabetes and, at present, all relevant procedures are invasive while they only provide periodic measurements. The pain and measurement intermittency associated with invasive techniques resulted in the exploration of painless, continuous, and non-invasive techniques of glucose measurement that would facilitate intensive management. The focus of this review paper is the existing solutions for continuous non-invasive glucose monitoring via contact lenses (CLs) and to carry out a detailed, qualitative, and comparative analysis to inform prospective researchers on viable pathways. Direct glucose monitoring via CLs is contingent on the detection of biomarkers present in the lacrimal fluid. In this review, emphasis is given on two types of sensors: a graphene-AgNW hybrid sensor and an amperometric sensor. Both sensors can detect the presence of glucose in the lacrimal fluid by using the enzyme, glucose oxidase. Additionally, this review covers fabrication procedures for CL biosensors. Ever since Google published the first glucose monitoring embedded system on a CL, CL biosensors have been considered state-of-the-art in the medical device research and development industry. The CL not only has to have a sensory system, it must also have an embedded integrated circuit (IC) for readout and wireless communication. Moreover, to retain mobility and ease of use of the CLs used for continuous glucose monitoring, the power supply to the solid-state IC on such CLs must be wireless. Currently, there are four methods of powering CLs: utilizing solar energy, via a biofuel cell, or by inductive or radiofrequency (RF) power. Although, there are many limitations associated with each method, the limitations common to all, are safety restrictions and CL size limitations. Bearing this in mind, RF power has received most of the attention in reported literature, whereas solar power has received the least attention in the literature. CLs seem a very promising target for cutting edge biotechnological applications of diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic relevance.

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A novel poly(propylene-co-imidazole) based biofuel cell: System optimization and operation for energy generation

Materials Science and Engineering C ◽

10.1016/j.msec.2014.10.077 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 165-171 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Muhammet Samet Kilic ◽

Seyda Korkut ◽

Baki Hazer

Keyword(s):

Energy Generation ◽

System Optimization ◽

Cell System ◽

Biofuel Cell ◽

Poly Propylene

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Miniaturization effect of electroosmotic self-propulsive microswimmer powered by biofuel cell

ROBOMECH Journal ◽

10.1186/s40648-019-0146-x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Toshiro Yamanaka ◽

Fumihito Arai

Keyword(s):

Theoretical Model ◽

Femtosecond Laser ◽

Polymer Composites ◽

Open Circuit Potential ◽

Vascular System ◽

Conductive Polymer ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Biofuel Cell ◽

Remarkable Feature ◽

Conductive Polymer Composites

AbstractFor future medical microrobotics, we have proposed the concept of the electroosmotic self-propulsive microswimmer powered by biofuel cell. According to the derived theoretical model, its self-propulsion velocity is inversely proportional to the length of the microswimmer, while it is proportional to the open circuit potential generated by the biofuel cell which does not depend on its size. Therefore, under conditions where those mechanisms work, it can be expected that the smaller its microswimmer size, the faster its self-propulsion velocity. Because of its remarkable feature, this concept is considered to be suitable as propulsion mechanisms for future medical microrobots to move inside the human body through the vascular system, including capillaries. We have already proved the mechanisms by observing the several 10 μm/s velocity of 100 μm prototypes fabricated by the optical photolithography using several photomasks and alignment steps. However, the standard photolithography was not suitable for further miniaturization of prototypes due to its insufficient resolution. In this research, we adopted femtosecond-laser 3D microlithography for multi-materials composing of the conductive polymer composites and nonconductive polymer composite and succeeded in fabricating 10 μm prototypes. Then we demonstrated more than 100 μm/s velocity of the prototype experimentally and proved its validity of the smaller and faster feature.

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