719 results about "Biofuel Cells" patented technology

Devices for production of electricity and/or hydrogen gas are provided by the present invention. In particular, microbial fuel cells for production of electricity and modified microbial fuel cells for production of hydrogen are detailed. A tube cathode is provided which includes a membrane forming a general tube shape. An anode is provided which has a specific surface area greater than 100 m²/m³. In addition, the anode is substantially non-toxic to anodophilic bacteria. Combinations of particular anodes and cathodes are included in microbial fuel cells and modified microbial fuel cells.

A bio-implantable electrochemical cell system for active implantable medical devices. In one embodiment, the fuel cell includes an electrode structure consisting of immobilized anode and cathode enzymes deposited on nanostructured high-surface-area metal nanowires or carbon nanotube electrodes. The anode enzyme comprises immobilized glucose oxidase and the cathode enzyme comprises immobilized laccase. Glucose is oxidized at the surface of the anode and oxygen is reduced at the surface of the cathode. The coupled glucose oxidation-oxygen reduction reactions provide a self-generating current source. In another embodiment, the nanowires or carbon nanotubes, along with the adjacent surface anode and cathode electrodes, are coated with immobilized glucose oxidase and immobilized laccase containing biocolloidal substrates, respectively. This results in the precise construction of an enzyme architecture with control at the molecular level, while increasing the reactive surface area and corresponding output power by at least two orders of magnitude.

A fuel cell is provided with an anode and a cathode. The anode is in electrical communication with an anode enzyme and the cathode is in electrical communication with a cathode enzyme. The anode enzyme is preferably an oxidase or a dehydrogenase. The cathode enzyme is a copper-containing enzyme, such as a laccase, an ascorbate oxidase, a ceruloplasmine, or a bilirubin oxidase. Preferably, the cathode enzyme is operable under physiological conditions. Redox polymers serve to wire the anode enzyme to the anode and the cathode enzyme to the cathode. The fuel cell can be very small in size because it does not require a membrane, seal, or case. The fuel cell can be used in connection with a biological system, such as a human, as it may operate at physiological conditions. By virtue of its size and operability at physiological conditions, the fuel cell is of particular interest for applications calling for a power source implanted in a human body, such as a variety of medical applications.

A fuel cell having: a proton exchange membrane; anode and cathode housings containing chambers; a three-dimensional anode and cathode. Each housing may have a feed passage, a waste passage, and two through passages. The anode feed passage and the anode waste passage are each coupled to the anode chamber and to one of the cathode through passages and vice versa. The anode chamber may have bacteria capable of donating electrons to the anode upon exposure to a fuel. Solutions may be circulated through the passages and chambers.

A micro integrated cardiac pacemaker includes a control unit for outputting a control signal according to cardiograph information, heart stimulating means for stimulating heart tissue in response to the control signal, cardiograph information extracting means for extracting cardiograph information and outputting it to the control unit, and a power supply unit for supplying drive power. The power supply unit is a biological fuel cell that takes out electrons by oxidation of a biological fuel. The biological fuel cell includes an anode and a cathode. An oxidase of a biological fuel and a mediator are immobilized on the cathode. Blood and/or body fluid are used as an electrolytic solution, and a biological fuel and oxygen in the blood and/or the fluid are used. The biological fuel cell is attached to the end of a catheter and implanted into the heart, and the catheter is withdrawn, without incising the breast.

There is provided with an enzyme electrode which can be used as a sensor with high sensitivity, a biofuel cell with high output, and an electrochemical reaction device with high reaction efficiency. The enzyme electrode has a conductive base plate, a fusion protein immobilized to the conductive base plate and an electron transfer mediator, wherein the fusion protein is a fusion protein of a enzyme 1 to catalyze a chemical reaction for producing a reaction product 1 from a reaction substrate 1 and a enzyme 2 to catalyze a chemical reaction for producing a reaction product 2 from a reaction substrate 2, and at least one chemical substance of the reaction product 1 is identical to at least one chemical substance of the reaction substrate 2.

The present disclosure provides for a method of forming, producing or manufacturing functionalized and soluble nanomaterials, most specifically carbon nanotubes on a substrate, which can be used in the production or manufacture of biofuel cells. One embodiment provides for the coupling of biofuel cells with a nanomaterial, wherein the nanomaterial supports catalytic enzymes. Another embodiment provides for a biofuel cell which uses enzymes immobilized on nanomaterials as electrodes. Another embodiment provides for the construction of a biofuel cell, wherein the application of a microwave process, and/or an electrochemical technique, is used to develop a biofuel cell having nanomaterial/enzyme-based electrodes on a substrate. Another embodiment provides for a composite of nanomaterial grown on a substrate, coupled to tethered or bonded enzymes, which makes it possible to fabricate direct electron transfer electrodes. Another embodiment provides for an implanted device. Another embodiment provides for a biofuel cell that can also function as a biosensor. A method for producing a nanomaterial-substrate system is also disclosed.

The invention discloses a double-chamber alga microbial fuel cell and a method thereof for treating waste water and realizing zero carbon emission, which relates to a microbial fuel cell and a method for treating waste water. The invention solves the problem that the traditional microbial fuel cell can generate a large amount of CO2 in the process of treating waste water. In the invention, a cation exchange membrane is vertically arranged in a box body of a reactor; an anode chamber and a cathode chamber are formed in the box body of the reactor; an anode is arranged in the anode chamber; a cathode is arranged in the cathode chamber; leads are connected with the anode and the cathode; one end of a gas duct is hermetically connected with a gas collecting chamber, and the other end of the gas duct is arranged at the bottom of the cathode chamber; and a gas collecting device is hermetically installed at a gas outlet. The method comprises the following steps: (1) starting the reactor; and (2) introducing the waste water into the cathode chamber and the anode chamber, catabolizing organic matters by microbes at room temperature, simultaneously obtaining electrical energy, and introducing the CO2 generated in the anode chamber into the cathode chamber to be used by the alga at the cathode for photosynthesis. The invention realizes zero emission of CO2 and simultaneously can recover electrical energy, thereby really changing waste into resources.

The invention provides a nitrogen-doped graphene catalyst and a preparation method and application thereof. The nitrogen-doped graphene catalyst is characterized by being prepared by roasting a nitrogen-doped graphene precursor; the nitrogen-doped graphene precursor is prepared from the raw materials including at least one of non-precious metal salt and hydrate thereof, graphite oxide and nitrogen-containing small organic molecules; in the raw materials, the mass percent of the graphite oxide is 10-89wt%, the mass percent of the nitrogen-containing small organic molecules is 10-89wt%, and the mass percent of at least one of non-precious metal salt and hydrate thereof is 1-10wt%. The preparation process of the nitrogen-doped graphene provided by the invention is simple, the process is easy to operate, the activity is high, the cost is low, and industrial production is easy to implement; the nitrogen-doped graphene can be applied to the fields of fuel cells, metal-air cells, microbial fuel cells and the like.

Microfluidic biofuel cells comprising a bioanode and/or a biocathode are formed using microfluidic principles and soft lithography. The enzymes utilized in the redox reactions at the bioanode and/or the biocathode are stabilized in a micellar or inverted micellar structure. The biofuel cell is used to produce high power densities.

The present invention relates to a method in which a microbial fuel cell (MFC) is used in order to produce electrical power while also either eliminating a heavy metal or recovering a precious metal from waste water containing the heavy metal or the precious metal, and, more particularly, the invention has advantages including effective elimination of Hg2+ in the form of a solid precipitate or deposit of Hg or Hg2Cl2, and, incidentally, power is produced, by-products are rendered harmless and long-term economic operation is achieved.

The invention provides an enzyme electrode usable as a highly sensitive sensor, a high-output bio fuel cell or an electrochemical reaction device of a high reaction efficiency. The enzyme electrode includes an electroconductive base member and an enzyme, wherein the enzyme is formed by an associated protein in which two or more different enzyme proteins are associated.

The invention belongs to the technical field of biological fuel cells, and discloses a phycomycetes microbial fuel cell and a preparation method and application of the phycomycetes microbial fuel cell. The phycomycetes microbial fuel cell comprises an anode chamber, a cathode chamber, a transverse diaphragm, an anode, a cathode and an outer circuit, wherein phycomycetes, a culture solution and a carbon source are respectively installed in the anode chamber and the cathode chamber. In the operation process of the phycomycetes microbial fuel cell, operation is conducted by repeatedly converting the electrodes; in the whole operation process, with the help of synergistic effects of the phycomycetes, the effect that azo dye pollutants are degraded efficiently is achieved; the electrodes are alternately used for degrading the azo dye pollutants, therefore, the physiologically toxic effect on current-producing bacteria by the azo dye pollutants is eliminated, and continuous efficient current generation is realized; the phycomycetes is adopted as a biocatalyst for both the anode and the cathode, no metal catalyst is used for modification, no exogenous artificial mediator is added, aeration is not needed, therefore, the construction and operation cost of the microbial fuel cell is lowered, the sustainability of the microbial fuel cell is enhanced, and industrial amplified production of the microbial fuel cell can be conducted beneficially.

The invention discloses an algal fungi synergistic ecological type microbial fuel cell and a method for generating electricity by utilizing water purification. The fuel cell consists of a fuel cell body, a water inlet distribution system, an anaerobic reaction area, a wetland ecological anode area and an algal fungi symbiotic cathode area. A cation exchange resin is added into a matrix, straw biological carbon is adopted in the wetland matrix, the conductivity is improved, and the internal resistance is reduced; an algal ecological cathode is constructed, and energy conservation and low carbon are realized; and moreover, a deep anaerobic zone is increased on the lower layer of the anode area and adapts to sewage feeding of high-concentration COD, the height of the cell body is increased, and the electrical activity of the cell is improved. The ecological wetland and the microbial fuel cell are combined, a wetland ecological anode and an algal fungi symbiotic oxygen-releasing ecological cathode are constructed, the ecological type microbial fuel cell is formed, and sewage treatment and energy recycling are realized.

The present invention relates to an enzyme electrode for transporting electric charge formed by an oxidation-reduction reaction in an enzyme to a conductive member at a high speed. The enzyme electrode specifically has a π-conjugated metal complex molecule immobilized on the conductive member and the enzyme immobilized on the conductive member through the π-conjugated metal complex molecule.

The invention relates to a rotating biological-cathode microbiological fuel cell and a sewage treatment method thereof, and belongs to the technical field of sewage treatment and resource recycling in environment engineering. The invention is characterized in that a cathode is made of carbon fibers and fixed to a circular ring. The outer layer of the rotating cathode biomembrane mainly comprises aerobic nitrifiers for completing the short-range nitrification of ammonia nitrogen. In the inner layer of the cathode biomembrane, nitrite nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen are used as electron acceptors, an electrode is an electron donor and used for denitrification. The structure of a reactor realizes controllable rotation speed of the cathode, controllable distance between the cathode and the anode, and controllable submerging proportion of the cathode biomembrane, and has the advantages of flexible operation, and convenient regulation and control. The rotating biological-cathode microbiological fuel cell can realize control on dissolved oxygen in a single-chamber reactor; and thus, the invention reduces the internal resistance of the cell, accelerates the biomembrane renewing, realizes the short-range nitrification and denitrification, synchronously completes decarburization and denitrification with low consumption and high efficiency, and extracts chemical energy from pollutants to form electric energy output.

The invention discloses a method and device for storing bioelectrical energy by virtue of a capacitive anode. The device comprises an anode chamber, a cathode chamber and an ion exchange membrane, wherein the anode chamber and the cathode chamber are divided by the ion exchange membrane, and the anode of the anode chamber adopts a capacitive electrode; electricity generating bacteria and organic matters are added into the anode chamber to form a MFC (Microbial Fuel Cell) anode chamber. The electrode decorated with a super capacitor material is put in the MFC anode chamber, a built-in capacitance system is formed in the cell, and an electricity storing process of electricity generating bacteria bioelectricity in the anode chamber is realized under the condition of an open circuit. A load circuit is accessed, the device externally discharges, and the discharge of the stored bioelectricity can be realized. Meanwhile, the bioelectricity stored under the condition of the open circuit of the decorated anode is utilized to realize the promotion of the transient output power of an MFC when the circuit accessing the device is connected.

A process for producing hydrogen from bio-oxidisable material is disclosed herein. The process comprises the steps of—introducing the bio-oxidisable material into a reactor provided with an anode and a cathode optionally separated by a cation exchange membrane and containing anodophilic bacteria in an aqueous medium;—applying a potential between the anode and cathode 0.05 and 1.5 volt, while maintaining a pH of between 3 and 9 in the aqueous medium;—collecting hydrogen gas at the cathode. The hydrogen production process can be intermittently switched to an electric power generation stage (biofuel cell) by adding oxygen to the cathode and separating the anode and cathode spaces by means of a cation exchange membrane.

The invention relates to a two-chambered alga microbial fuel cell and treatment wastewater method of low energy consumption thereof, belonging to the field of wastewater treatment. The invention resolves the problem that the current aerobic biological treatment process has large energy consumption and high cost because of adopting the imposed aeration. An anode chamber of two-chambered alga microbial fuel cell is connected with a cathode chamber thereof through a diaphragm; a vacuum pad is arranged on the position among the diaphragm, the anode chamber and the cathode chamber; the anode chamber is provided with an anode and the cathode chamber is provided with a cathode; the anode and the cathode are connected with an external circuit by a lead wire, wherein the external circuit is positioned outside the two-chambered alga microbial fuel cell. The method comprises the following steps: firstly, a reactor is started; secondly, the wastewater enters into the cathode chamber and the anode chamber, the microorganism degrades to metabolize organics and simultaneously gets electrical energy under the room temperature; cathode alga provides oxygen for the cathode chamber by the photosynthesis. The alga microbial fuel cell can be the main structure of wastewater and aerobic treatment, which can replace the roles of an aeration tank, a biological filter, an aeration oxidation pond and the like in a wastewater treatment factory so as to reduce the energy consumption of the aerobic biological treatment.

The invention discloses a microorganism electrochemical device for in-situ remediation of polluted water and bottom mud and a method for in-situ remediation of polluted water and bottom mud, and relates to a microorganism electrochemical device and a method for in-situ remediation of polluted water and bottom mud. The invention aims at solving the problems that polluted water and bottom mud in rivers and lakes are complex to remedy, high in cost and high in maintenance cost by using an existing biological fuel battery. The microorganism electrochemical device comprises a cathode, an anode, a first lead, a second lead and a charge-discharge device. The method comprises the following steps: putting the anode of the microorganism electrochemical device for in-situ remediation of polluted water and bottom mud into polluted bottom mud, putting the cathode into polluted water above the polluted bottom mud, connecting the cathode and the anode with the cathode and the anode of the charge-discharge device by using the first lead and the second lead respectively, and operating for 18 days, thereby obtaining water and bottom mud from which pollutants are removed. The microorganism electrochemical device and the method can be applied to in-situ remediation of polluted water and bottom mud.

A sewage treatment method coupled with an organic membrane and electro-Fenton catalytic technology belongs to the technical field of sewage treatment in environmental engineering. The sewage treatment method is characterized in that a conductive polymer modified organic fabric membrane is used as a cathode membrane, while a stainless steel mesh is used as an anode, a Fenton reagent is formed in the vicinity of the membrane under the conditions of appropriate electric field, dissolved oxygen, pH value and ferrous ion concentration, and the reaction liquid is circulated through membrane filtration so that the Fenton reagent is dispersed in the system. For the characteristics of sewage, the type and the size of the cathode membrane, the voltage and the like can be optimized. Power generation microorganisms in sewage-treatment microbial fuel cells generate electric power by utilizing sewage, oxygen is reduced by using electrons transmitted from the anode while the organical membrane serves as the cathode; and hydrogen peroxide is formed to arouse Fenton reaction so as to degrade pollutants. The sewage treatment method provided by the invention has the following advantages that organic membrane separation is combined with the electro-Fenton catalytic technology, the pollution and the load of the membrane assembly are reduced, effective contact and reaction of the pollutants and the membrane electrode are enhanced by membrane filtration; and furthermore, through membrane filtration, large-particle pollutants difficult to degrade can be removed.

The invention discloses a microbial fuel cell air cathode which is composed of a diffusion layer thin film, a stainless steel net and an active layer thin film in an overlapped mode from an air side to an electrolyte side. The preparation method comprises the following steps of: mixing a carbon powder material which has good electrical conductivity and is hydrophilic and PTFE (Poly tetra fluoro ethylene) emulsion which is hydrophobic and is air conductive in ethanol; clustering through ultrasound and water bath; and finally rolling into a thin-film-shaped diffusion layer and an active layer; with the stainless steel net as an electrical conductive framework, overlapping and rolling so as to form the air cathode. The microbial fuel cell air cathode and the preparation method thereof have the following advantages: according to the preparation method, since electrical conductive carbon black is added into the air diffusion layer, the resistance of an air diffusion electrode is reduced; since the ultrasound stirring is carried out after the PTFE emulsion is dropped in, uniform and fine air holes can be formed in the electrode and the three-phase interface reduction site in the active layer is increased; and heating and curing are carried out twice in a muffle furnace, thus PTFE forms an air conveying pore canal of a three-dimensional network structure, the three-phase interface in the active layer is increased, and the microbial fuel cell air cathode is applicable to normalized mass production.