Oxygen reduction activity of carbon fibers cathode, and application for current generation from the NAD+ and NADH recycling reaction

Carbon fibers treated at 700 oC for 10 min were found to have O2 reduction activity when being used as a cathode. The special type of partition combined with both cationic and anionic exchange membranes was applied between anode cell and cathode cell in order to use a highly acidic solution such as 0.5 M H2SO4 as an electrolyte of the cathode cell for increasing the efficiency of O2 reduction activity. The current generation from NAD+ and NADH recycling system combined with D-gluconolactone production from 500 mg of D-glucose was performed by applying only carbon fibers for both anode and cathode. The total current volume obtained was 81.4 mAh during the reaction for 10 h, and the current efficiency was 93%. One gram of carbon fibers was pressed with Nafion paste on a piece of carbon paper(area : 50 mm×50mm) with heating to prepare the cathode, and this construct was combined with conventional fuel cell. The power density was 3.6 mW/cm2, and the total power volume was calculated to be 90 mW per 1 g of carbon fibers.