A Modifiable, Spontaneously Formed Polymer Gel with Zwitterionic and N-Hydroxysuccinimide Moieties for an Enzymatic Biofuel Cell

Abstract

A modifiable, spontaneously formed and biocompatible polymer gel, composed of phosphoryl­choline and N-hydroxy­succinimide ester, is reported, which can be subjected to postmodification by amine-containing mediators to obtain a redox zwitterionic gel. Owing to attractive interactions between the polymer chains, the network structure of the polymer gel is formed spontaneously in ethanol or water. In addition, the designed hydrogel can serve as an enzyme-immobilizing matrix for enzymatic bioelectrodes. We illustrate the potential applications of the hydrogel with a biofuel cell that demonstrated superior operational stability over 10 days and the unaffected current of the bioelectrode in concentrated protein solution (45 mg mL–1). Compared with a typical redox hydrogel, the zwitterionic moieties with high hydration endow the redox zwitterionic hydrogel with (i) better environment for preserving enzyme’s activity and (ii) resistance to biofouling caused by protein adsorption. These properties contribute to overcoming the most challenging issues in the field of implantable bioelectronic applications, as insufficient operational stability and lack of biocompatibility severely limit their feasibility for practical applications.

An Anti‐Biofouling Flexible Fiber Biofuel Cell Working in the Brain

“…The biofouling processes will further trigger foreign body reaction and lead to the formation of a fibrous capsule on implanted devices, which severely hinders substrates from reaching the electrode and hence inactivates the implanted electrochemical devices. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28] As a consequence, the biofouling processes will restrict the availability of fuel at the BFC electrodes, leading to reduction of power output. To investigate the anti-biofouling performance of fiber BFC, its power output was recorded before and after incubation in 10 mg mL -1 bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution.…”

“…[20,21] In addition, the efficiency and stability of BFC energy supply were impaired by biofouling, a biological process caused by adsorption and accumulation of biomolecules on implanted devices. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28] These aforementioned problems limited the in vivo applications of BFCs.…”

A Mediated Enzymatic Electrochemical Sensor Using Paper-Based Laser-Induced Graphene

“…For the PaperLIG/AFc/GOx/Nafion (0.5%), the catalytic efficiency of the enzymes was investigated through the apparent Michaelis–Menten constant ( ) by using the Lineweaver–Burke equation ( Equation (S3)) (Figure S5b ) [ 27 , 60 ]. The was estimated to be 3.13 mM which was similar to previous reported LIG-based glucose biosensors ( ) [ 27 ] and ferrocene mediated glucose biosensor ( ) [ 61 ].…”

Wearable Biofuel Cells: Advances from Fabrication to Application

“…More importantly, 2.2 times higher enzymatic activity than that of the control groups was achieved by this GOx&HRP-magnetic DNA hydrogel (Figure 12e), which was attributed to the ECM-mimicking environment provided by the hydrogel. Recently, Takai and co-workers [151] reported a polymer gel composed of phosphorylcholine and N-hydroxysuccinimide ester, which can be post modified by amine-containing mediators to obtain a redox zwitterionic gel. When utilized as an www.afm-journal.de www.advancedsciencenews.com…”