Patch-Type Wearable Enzymatic Lactate Biofuel Cell With Carbon Cloth Bioelectrodes for Energy Harvesting From Human Sweat

Enzyme-powered biofuel cells (EBFCs) are one of the most possible power sources for wearable microelectronic devices because of their small size and specificity of enzymes. The optimum realization of these energy sources becomes possible by fabricating biocompatible, flexible, and environment-friendly electrode materials with high active sites. Nanomaterials, with enhanced surface area, fulfill the above necessities and are used in a variety of applications. In this work, a novel membraneless enzymatic biofuel cell utilizing carbon nanotubes coated carbon cloth (CC) as bioelectrodes is presented. The bioelectrodes were integrated onto an article substrate to develop an economical and disposable patch-type wearable EBFC (W-EBFC). Such W-EBFC is designed which can deliver a power density of 132 and
$104 \mu \text{W}$
/cm
²
, with a stable voltage in 8-mM lactate concentration and real samples of human sweat, respectively. The results reflect that CC-based bioelectrodes-based biofuel cells have enormous potential to be a good energy source for wearable biomedical applications.