Laser-Scribed <i>N</i>-Doped Graphene for Integrated Flexible Enzymatic Biofuel Cells
Xinke Kong, Panpan Gai, Lei Ge, Feng Li
Abstract
Flexible enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) have been considered as alternative power sources for wearable devices, in which, the design of the substrate electrode is of significance for its mechanical robustness and performance output. Herein, we developed an integrated flexible EBFC based on N-doped graphene directly obtained with a polyimide film precursor via a simple laser-scribed method. Encouragingly, the laser-scribed N-doped graphene (LSNG) possessed excellent mechanical robustness and conductibility. More importantly, the LSNG electrode exhibited excellent electrocatalysis performance, which can remarkably reduce the overpotential of the cofactor enzyme. With glucose and O2 as fuels, the integrated flexible EBFC could produce a maximum power density (Pmax) to 27 ± 1.7 μW cm–2 at open-circuit voltages (EOCV) of 0.45 ± 0.03 V, being superior or comparable to those of the reported flexible EBFC. In addition, the EOCV of the device retained 78% of its initial value even after storage for 20 days and it showed almost no change after bending 100 times. Overall, the LSNG was an appealing alternative candidate to construct integrated biofuel cells and other flexible devices.