Artificial blood vessel biofuel cell for self-powered blood glucose monitoring

Abstract Biofuel cell (BFC) is a kind of bio-cell based on biological enzymes. The enzyme as a catalyst can interconvert renewable and sustainable energy into each other more rapidly, such as the biochemical energy in glucose and ethanol into electrical energy. In this work, artificial blood vessel and fuel cell are based on polyaniline/thermoplastic polyurethane (PANI/TPU) fiber membrane with an average fiber diameter of 1300 nm, a film thickness of 167 μ m, and a permeability of 18.4 mm s −1 . The PANI/TPU fiber membrane was prepared by electrospinning and followed in situ polymerization. The membrane has good flexibility and mechanical properties, and can be stretched up to 200%. The advantages of good hydrophilicity, biocompatibility and high porosity make it possible to efficiently load glucose oxidase and laccase. The prepared BFC can stably output a voltage of 50 mV in simulated blood, and the output electrical signal changes significantly with the change of glucose concentration, which may be used in implantable devices or blood glucose monitoring.