Hierarchical Structure of Gold and Carbon Electrode for Bilirubin Oxidase-Biocathode

Abstract

Biofuel cells (BFCs) with enzymatic electrocatalysts have attracted significant attention, especially as power sources for wearable and implantable devices; however, the applications of BFCs are limited owing to the limited O2 supply. This can be addressed by using air-diffusion-type bilirubin oxidase (BOD) cathodes, and thus the further development of the hierarchical structure of porous electrodes with highly effective specific surface areas is critical. In this study, a porous layer of gold is deposited over magnesium-oxide-templated carbon (MgOC) to form BOD-based biocathodes for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Porous gold structures are constructed via electrochemical deposition of gold via dynamic hydrogen bubble templating (DHBT). Hydrogen bubbles used as a template and controlled by the Coulomb number yield a porous gold structure during the electrochemical deposition process. The current density of the ORR catalyzed by BOD without a redox mediator on the gold-modified MgOC electrode was 1.3 times higher than that of the ORR on the MgOC electrode. Furthermore, the gold-deposited electrodes were modified with aromatic thiols containing negatively charged functional groups to improve the orientation of BOD on the electrode surface to facilitate efficient electron transfer at the heterogeneous surface, thereby achieving an ORR current of 12 mA cm−2 at pH 5 and 25 °C. These results suggest that DHBT is an efficient method for the fabrication of nanostructured electrodes that promote direct electron transfer with oxidoreductase enzymes.