Performance evaluations of carbonized low-density polyethylenes considered carbon supporter for electrodes of membraneless flow-type enzymatic biofuel cells

Plastic products have many applications due to their low cost and simple production. However, since their remaining wastes can be a resource of environmental pollution, recycling of plastic waste is significant. In this study, for doing that, tertiary recycling of low-density polyethylenes (LDPEs) that are plastic waste is newly explored. With that, LDPEs are converted into useful carbonized LDPEs (C-LDPEs) used as Supporting material for electrodes of enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) by stabilization and carbonization process. By recycling of LDPEs, their surface area increases, while desirable graphitic structure is produced. Glucose oxidase- and bilirubin oxidase-based catalytic structures are then loaded onto C-LDPEs to complete electrodes. After confirming excellence in their catalytic activity, the performance of membraneless flow-type EBFCs using C-LDPE based electrodes is measured. According to the evaluations, their open circuit voltage and maximum power density are 0.64 ± 0.03 V and 20.5 ± 1.3 μW cm-2.