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Show HONORS COLLEGE SPRING 2013 Steven Rose Shelley Minteer BIOFUEL CELLS AS SELF-POWERED SENSORS FOR ARSENIC DETECTION Steven Rose (Michelle Rasmussen, Shelley Minteer) Department of Chemistry University of Utah Research in the Minteer group has centered on procedures for immobilizing enzymes and organelles on carbon electrodes, for use in sensory and fuel cell applications. Similar strategies have been used to prepare a series of electrodes capable of pyruvate oxidation which, in the presence of arsenic, will be inhibited. These electrodes, when incorporated into a biofuel cell, will show decreased power output in the presence of arsenic compounds. This inhibition and corresponding power decrease will make it possible to sense the presence of arsenic, allowing for the self powered detection of it. For the electrodes, three types of bioelectrocatalysts are to be examined: enzymes, mitochondria, and whole cells. This will enable sensitivity and specificity comparisons between the electrode types. For enzymatic electrodes, electrodes using a-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase have are currently under investigation for reproducibility and sensitivity toward arsenic, a-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase and pyruvate dehydrogenase are the enzymes in the electron transport chain which are affected by arsenic. Whole-cell electrodes utilizing yeast as a catalyst have been designed and are also currently being tested for arsenic sensitivity. Methods of mitochondria immobilization have been developed by other members of the group, and these will be used for mitochondrial electrode testing. 240 |