(Invited) From PEM Fuel Cell Design to Biological Fuel Cells: The Status of Systems Development for Biological Fuel Cells

Over the last decade, the field of biological fuel cells has expanded almost exponentially. Much of the research was originally focused on understanding fundamental principles and showing bioelectrocatalysis in a variety of environments, with a variety of biocatalysts (microbes, enzymes, mitochondria), and a variety of electrode materials, but as fundamental electrocatalysis became known, there has been a push to develop biological fuel cell systems. This paper will discuss how different applications of biological fuel cells require different cell designs. Many portable power applications utilize cell designs similar to traditional fuel cells, but many implantable applications require new membraneless cell designs, flexible cell designs, and microscale cell designs. These new cell designs will be compared with more traditional PEM fuel cell designs.