Power generation using diabetic urine as fuel in a paper-based microfluidic fuel cell with a ZnO/Ni-based composite anode
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abstract
This work presents, for the first time, power generation using diabetic urine as fuel. The energy conversion is achieved through a paper-based microfluidic fuel cell. Urine has recently gained attention as a source of novel biomarkers for early disease detection, making the use of diabetic urine as fuel particularly relevant to the development of autonomous portable medical devices. A key challenge in using diabetic urine as fuel lies in the fact that it contains various molecules and compounds that can block or poison the fuel cell%27s electrodes. This study introduces a selective catalyst of ZnO and nickel-based particles that oxidize the urea in human urine. Different concentrations of Ni (3%25, 6%25, and 9%25) were evaluated to optimize catalyst activity. The best performance of the diabetic urine-microfluidic fuel cell was achieved with the ZnO-Ni at 3%25, yielding a maximum voltage of 0.89 V, a maximum current density of 1.18 mA cm−2, and a maximum power density of 1.26 mW cm−2. These results demonstrate the potential for enhancing point-of-care devices through paper-based microfluidic fuel cell stacks.
