(Invited) Fabrication of Implantable Glucose Fuel Cells on Silicon Wafers

Abstract

Well-known silicon micro fabrication techniques are used to create biocompatible abiotic glucose fuel cells, suitable for powering ultra-low-power bioelectronics on a silicon wafer. Measured continuous outputs of 2.3 µW/cm2 at 0.243V were achieved and maintained for a period of at least 48 hr with an open circuit voltage of 0.55V. Fabrication processes are discussed to address the difficulty in depositing and patterning Nafion separation membranes robustly and in the creation of a uniform carbon nanotube mesh catalyst.

Low-power Inductive-coupling Transmitter Using Supply-insensitive Auxiliary Driving Switch under Supply-voltage Fluctuation

“…Although the delay time varies with the supply voltage, it does not affect the operation of the proposed inductive-coupling transmitter because biofuel cells generate power that is stable enough to suppress variations within the tolerance range. (7,8) The size of the main and auxiliary driving transistors can be determined by considering the characteristics of consumption power and supply voltage. If the size of the main driving transistor is small, the consumption power at all supply voltages decreases.…”

“…Since it is difficult to obtain large stable power by energy harvesting, an energy harvesting system is also an unsuitable power source for healthcare IoT. On the other hand, biofuel cells (7,8) are considered promising power sources because they are safe and provide stable power. The structure and mechanism of biofuel cells are mentioned in previously reported works.…”

“…The structure and mechanism of biofuel cells are mentioned in previously reported works. (7,8) It is reported that biofuel cells can generate an open-circuit voltage of 550 mV with small variation. (7,8) Moreover, they do not require an antenna, an AC-DC converter, or a DC-DC converter.…”

“…A biofuel cell generates voltage in the range from 100 to 500 mV. (8) In the supply-sensing architecture, the supply voltage depends on the bioconcentration. Then, an oscillator converts the supply voltage to the period of the output signal.…”

A 6.1-nA Fully Integrated CMOS Supply Modulated OOK Transmitter in 55-nm DDC CMOS for Glasses-Free, Self-Powered, and Fuel-Cell-Embedded Continuous Glucose Monitoring Contact Lens

“…In this brief, we firstly demonstrate the potential of using a combination of low-power CMOS OOK transmitter and glucose fuel cell for the development of glasses-free CGMS contact lens. The recent progress in the field of biofuel cells has enabled the fabrication of glucose fuel cells on silicon wafer [2]. It is capable of achieving an output of 2.3 µW/cm 2 and an open-circuit voltage of 0.55 V, which is maintained for at least 48 hours.…”