Efficient Blood-toleration Enzymatic Biofuel Cell via In Situ Protection of an Enzyme Catalyst

The enzymatic biofuel cell (EBFC) has been considered as a promising implantable energy generator because it can extract energy from a living body without any harm to the host. However, an unprotected enzyme will be destabilized and even eventually be deactivated in human blood. Thus, the performance of implantable EBFC has received barely any improvement. It is therefore a breakthrough in realizing a superior efficient EBFC that can work stably in human blood which relies in protecting the enzyme to defend it from the attack of biological molecules in human blood. Herein, we innovatively created a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) and cascaded enzyme-glucose oxidase (GOx)/horseradish peroxidase (HRP) coembedded hydrophilic MAF-7 biocatalyst (SWCNT-MAF-7-GOx/HRP). The SWCNT-MAF-7-GOx/HRP is highly stable in electrocatalytic activity even when it is exposed to high temperature and some molecular inhibitors. In addition, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the electrocatalytic activity of GOx/HRP in hydrophilic SWCNT-MAF-7 far surpasses that of the GOx/HRP in hydrophobic SWCNT-ZIF-8. In human whole blood, the SWCNT-MAF-7-GOx/HRP catalytic EBFC exhibits an eightfold increase in power density (119 μW cm–2 vs 14 μW cm–2) and 13-fold increase in stability in comparison with the EBFC based on an unprotected enzyme. In this study, the application of metal–organic framework-based encapsulation techniques in the field of biofuel cells is successfully realized, breaking a new path for creating implantable bioelectrical-generating devices.