Effect of electrochemical functionalization of single-walled carbon nanotube electrodes in flexible enzymatic biofuel cells

We report a flexible enzymatic biofuel cell based on electrochemically functionalized single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) electrodes. Comparative studies on the impact of the electrochemical functionalization of the SWNT electrodes on the device performance revealed a 40%-110% increase in power density as compared to that of the device with as-fabricated SWNT electrodes, with an observed maximum power density of 7.2 mu W cm(-2). This improvement in performance can be attributed to the increase in the amount of enzymes adsorbed on the SWNT surface and the enhanced electron transfer rate owing to the SWNT functionalization. Our findings can aid improve the performance of flexible and high-power-density biofuel cells. (C) 2021 The Japan Society of Applied Physics