Yeast-DMFC device using glucose as fuel: analytical and energetic applications. Preliminary results

We carried out a preliminary study, using a Direct Catalytic Methanol (or Ethanol) Fuel Cell (DMFC) in association with yeast cells (Saccharomices Cerevisiae), both to evaluate the possibility of analytically determining glucose solutions of unknown concentration, and to determine the power (in μW) obtainable from a solution with a fixed glucose concentration. In this first research, after having experimentally verified the actual functioning of the system, we optimized the operating conditions, working at room temperature, such as the current intensity as a function of the yeast concentration in solution and the contact time between cells and glucose, carrying out the measurement in potentiostatic mode. It was therefore possible both to identify a short linearity range of the method for analytical applications and to evaluate the performance of this system from an energy perspective, using the experimental power curve. We lastly have also tried to obtain a short calibration curve, to be used for analytical purposes. Finally we also measured the current intensity obtainable using a weighed amount of glucose as fuel and estimated the power achieved from the system. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.