A One-compartment direct glucose alkaline fuel cell with methyl viologen as electron mediator

► A glucose–air alkaline fuel cell without using noble metal catalysts has been developed. ► The rudimentary fuel cell generates a maximum power density of 0.62mWm−2. ► The high performance is attributed to the use of MV and nickel foam. ► Main oxidation products are small organic acids indicating deep oxidation of glucose. Glucose is abundant, renewable, non-toxic and convenient as a fuel for fuel cells, but current technologies are unavailable for us to directly oxidize it to obtain energy. Fuel cells using enzymes and micro-organisms as catalysts are limited by their extremely low power output and rather short durability. Fuel cells using precious metal catalyst are expensive for large-scale use. In this work, a one-compartment direct glucose alkaline fuel cell has been developed that use methyl viologen (MV) as electron mediator and nickel foam as the anode. The rudimentary fuel cell generates a maximum power density of 0.62mWcm−2, while the maximum current density is 5.03mAcm−2. Electro-catalytic activities of MV and the nickel foam in alkaline conditions were studied by cyclic voltammetry. It is indicated that the high performance of the fuel cell is attributed to the combined use of MV and nickel foam. 13C-NMR and HPLC were used to analyze oxidation products of glucose. The result shows that the principal oxidation products are short-chain organic acids indicating deep oxidation of glucose is achieved.