Insect-mountable biofuel cell with self-circulation system

This paper reports the potentiality of a semi-permanent integrated power source mounted on an insect and using trehalose, the main sugar of insect hemolymph. A self-circulation system of cockroach hemolymph powered by the dorsal vessel of a cockroach was developed for self-refueling of an insect-mountable biofuel cell (BFC) and connected to a cockroach with a tube and a check-valve. The flow rate of about 457 nL/s was obtained. Furthermore, the electrochemical reaction of the anode of the insect BFC was confirmed to take place when the chamber was mounted onto the cockroach. Finally, the insect-mountable system consisting of a flow channel, a dialysis membrane, a chamber and insect BFC was fabricated.