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Insect biofuel cells using trehalose included in insect hemolymph leading to an insect-mountable biofuel cell

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Abstract

In this paper, an insect biofuel cell (BFC) using trehalose included in insect hemolymph was developed. The insect BFC is based on trehalase and glucose oxidase (GOD) reaction systems which oxidize β-glucose obtained by hydrolyzing trehalose. First, we confirmed by LC-MS that a sufficient amount of trehalose was present in the cockroach hemolymph (CHL). The maximum power density obtained using the insect BFC was 6.07 μW/cm2. The power output was kept more than 10 % for 2.5 h by protecting the electrodes with a dialysis membrane. Furthermore, the maximum power density was increased to 10.5 μW/cm2 by using an air diffusion cathode. Finally, we succeeded in driving a melody integrated circuit (IC) and a piezo speaker by connecting five insect BFCs in series. The results indicate that the insect BFC is a promising insect-mountable battery to power environmental monitoring micro-tools.

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Acknowledgments

The present work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan Nos. 21676002, 21111503, 21225007 and 23111705, and TEPCO Memorial Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 2-24-16 Nakacho, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8588, Japan

    Kan Shoji

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Osaka University, 1-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Yoshitake Akiyama, Takayuki Hoshino & Keisuke Morishima

  3. Department of Biotechnology and Life Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 2-24-16 Nakacho, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8588, Japan

    Masato Suzuki, Nobuhumi Nakamura & Hiroyuki Ohno

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  1. Kan Shoji
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  2. Yoshitake Akiyama
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  3. Masato Suzuki
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  4. Takayuki Hoshino
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  5. Nobuhumi Nakamura
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  6. Hiroyuki Ohno
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  7. Keisuke Morishima
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Correspondence to Keisuke Morishima.

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Shoji, K., Akiyama, Y., Suzuki, M. et al. Insect biofuel cells using trehalose included in insect hemolymph leading to an insect-mountable biofuel cell. Biomed Microdevices 14, 1063–1068 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-012-9706-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-012-9706-z

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