Biological Fuel Cells with Drugstore Products

Abstract

The term fuel cell is used to describe an enormous variety of different systems. In addition to hydrogen, other fuels and various catalysts can be used, thus opening up a wide range of applications. If microorganisms or enzymes are used as catalysts, the systems are referred to as biological fuel cells [1]. So far, they are underrepresented at school [2]. To give an impulse to teachers, here we present simple hands-on experiments on biological fuel cells with baker's yeast [3], lactic acid bacteria and lactase as biocatalysts for students in grades nine to twelve. As these three biocatalysts are drugstore products, the experimental set-ups are low-cost and harmless. Furthermore, the students may already be familiar with the metabolism of yeast or the field of application of lactic acid bacteria and lactase from their everyday lives, so that the working principle of the fuel cells can be easily understood during the experiment.