ME 0115

URINE-ACTIVATED PAPER BATTERIES FOR BIO-SYSTEMS

1.

Mr T.SUDHAKAR,

2.

Mr A.RAMU

Abstract:
The first urine-activated laminated paper batteries have been demonstrated and reported in this paper. Simple and cheap fabrication process for the paper batteries has been developed which is compatible with the existing plastic laminating technologies or plastic molding technologies. In this battery, a magnesium (Mg) layer and copper chloride (CuCl) in the filter paper are used as the anode and the cathode, respectively. A stack consisting of an Mg layer, CuCl-doped filter paper and a copper (Cu) layer sandwiched between two plastic layers is laminated into the paper batteries by passing through the heating roller at 120 C. The paper battery is tested and it can deliver a power greater than 1.5 mW. In addition, these urine

Keywords:
MEMS and bioMEMS, micro-power sources, Fabrication, glucose oxidize, diagnosis of diseases, biosensors.

Conclusion:
Basic concepts of the paper battery operation are presented and the prototype micro-battery is fabricated by using a simple and cheap plastic lamination fabrication process.. The experimental study on the micro-battery showed that a maximum voltage of 1.47 V and a maximum power of 1.5 mW for the 1 k load resistor have been achieved. It is foreseeable that the voltage, current and capacity of the micro-battery can be improved by making series or parallel battery designs as well as by choosing other electrode/electrolyte systems. This demonstrates the feasibility of using the urine-activated paper battery for ondemand bioMEMS /bioapplication devices including home base health test kits 1.Mech III / IV 2.Mech III / IV K.L.C.E K.L.C.E

1. Introduction:

The field of MEMS and bioMEMS is emerging as an important technology of the new millennium with the capability of creating complex, autonomous and low cost engineering systems. One critical issue to be addressed is the power sources for micro-systems. Although some micro devices such as ink-jet printers may not need an on-board energy supply, remote and distributed systems such as smart dusts do need local power sources. As more MEMS devices are integrated with electronic circuits, the development of micro-power sources for micro-systems becomes exigent and challenging. A huge amount of research effort has been focused on micro power generation for the past decade by using micro fuel cells that utilized oxygen, hydrogen or other fuels to target continuous power supply in the range of 10100 W. Others have investigated the possibility of fabricating low cost and high capacity solar cells. However, these micro-power sources commonly require complicated micromachining processes that hinder the possibility of an integration process with MEMS for self-sustained micro-systems. Micro-power sources meeting the operation lifetime of disposable devices are attractive, in contrast to the long-operation, miniature power sources of micro internal combustion engines or rechargeable, thin-film lithium micro-batteries. Disposable on-demand, acid- and wateractivated micro-batteries using chemical reactions in a cavity was demonstrated for bioMEMS and micro-devices. All these fabrication processes for power sources use micro-machining technologies such as the bulk or surface micro-machining process based on silicon wafer. The silicon wafer-based processes hinder compatibility with bioMEMS devices or medical systems that are fabricated by using the plastic process. Currently urine is chemically analyzed for health screening and/or for the diagnosis of diseases. Everyday a healthy adult produces approximately 1.2 l of urine, which is mainly made up of a watery solution of metabolic waste such as urea (2535 g) and uric acid (0.41.0 g), dissolved salts such as sodium chloride (15 g), and organic materials. Most of these chemicals in urine can be used for health check purposes and for the diagnosis of diseases.

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of a urine-activated paper battery

A Cu film, CuCl-doped filter paper and a Mg film are stacked and laminated between two transparent laminating films. Two slits are made to contact urine to the paper and remove the air from the battery. for instance, glucose concentration in blood can be used as a marker for the diagnosis of diabetes and it could be detected by means of glucose oxidize (GOD). Over the past few decades, researchers have developed several means of monitoring the urine glucose concentration, multianalyte sensors for the detection of hypoxanthine, xanthine and uric acid and an enzyme sensor for urea detection. This current work demonstrates the feasibility of using a simple, cheap, plastic lamination technology to fabricate human urine-activated paper batteries as a power source to drive the on-board biosensors for healthcare screening of urine. The fabrication process and the batterys performance evaluation are described and discussed in detail in this paper.

Figure 2. Working principle of the urine-activated paper battery (a) before activation (b) after activation.

2. Battery theory:
The schematic diagram of a urine-activated paper battery consisting of a copper (Cu) layer, copper chloride (CuCl)-doped filter paper and a magnesium (Mg) layer. The whole assembly is sandwiched between two plastic layers and later laminated into a urine-activated paper battery by passing it through heated rollers at 120 C. Figure 2. shows the operation principle of the urine activated battery. Magnesium and copper chloride are used as the anode and the cathode, respectively. The Cu layer acts as an electron-collecting layer. When a droplet of human urine is added to the battery, as shown in figure 2.

Figure 3. (a) Preparation of the CuCl-doped filter paper. (b) After soaking the copper chloride-doped filter paper is dried in air and cut into small pieces. The urine soaks through the paper between the Mg and Cu layers. The chemicals dissolve and react to produce electricity. Even though urine contains other minor electrolyte chemicals such as uric acid, CuCl, as shown in figure 2, is the major chemical used for the generation of electric power in these batteries. The chemical reactions for the battery at the anode (oxidation) and cathode (reduction) are represented as equations (1) and (2): Mg Mg2+ + 2e (1) 2CuCl + 2e 2Cu + 2Cl (2) and the overall reaction is Mg + 2CuCl MgCl2 + 2Cu (3) The theoretical voltage of this battery is a direct function of the anode and cathode materials. The standard potential can be calculated as 2.49 V from the standard electrode potentials as the sum of the anode potential and the cathode potential.

3. Fabrication:
In order to fabricate the paper battery, we have successfully developed a plastic laminating fabrication technology that is compatible with the existing plastic laminating technologies or plastic molding technologies. Bulk magnesium is used for the anode due to its chemical stability in air. Figure 3 depicts preparation of the filter paper with CuCl. The suspension solution has 3g CuCl in 100 ml

Figure 4. SEM photographs of the paper with CuCl: CuCl is distributed on the filter paper fiber after soaking in the CuCl suspension as shown in figure 3. (a) Before soaking filter paper in the CuCl suspension. ( b) After soaking filter paper in the CuCl suspension. After soaking a sheet of the commercial filter paper in copper chloride suspension (3 g CuCl suspended in 100 ml) as shown in figure 3(a), the paper is dried in air and cut into small pieces for the battery fabrication (figure 3(b)). Figures 4(a) and (b) show SEM photographs of the paper before

and after soaking the paper in the CuCl suspension, as shown in figure 3(a). The SEM photograph of figure 4(b) was taken after the paper with CuCl was dried. We can clearly observe from figures 4(a) and (b) that the dried CuCl particles are distributed in the filter paper fibers after soaking in the CuCl suspension while the paper without CuCl does not have CuCl particles in the filter fibers. At the cathode, the distributed CuCl accepts the electrons generated from the Mg anode as shown in example (2), pushing forward the overall reaction. Figure 5 shows a cheap fabrication process developed for the paper battery. The process starts with a 0.15 mm thick lower transparent plastic film coated with an adhesive and this serves as a substrate for the paper battery. In the next step, a 0.2 mm thick Cu layer is deposited (or taped) and patterned as the positive electrode (as shown in figure 5(a)). A 0.2 mm thick aluminum (Al) layer (figure 5(b)) is then deposited and patterned to provide electrical connection and as electrodes. In figures 5(c) and (d), 0.2 mm thick CuCl paper and a Mg layer are stacked onto the copper layer thereafter covered on the top by an upper transparent plastic film with an adhesive layer (figure 5(e)). Finally, the whole layer is laminated into a paper battery by passing through heating rollers at 120 C.

Figure 5. The fabrication process for the paper battery: the stacked layers of Cu, CuCl-doped filter paper and Mg between the two transparent plastic films are laminated while passing through heating rollers. The adhesive on the plastic film bonds all materials together by the heat and pressure of the rollers. ( a) Copper layer patterning on lower transparent plastic film with adhesive layer. (b) Aluminum layer patterning for electrodes (0.2 mm). (c) Placing filter paper with CuCl (0.1 mm). (d) Placing magnesium layer for negative electrode (0.2 mm). (e) Placing upper transparent plastic film and bonding by heating roller. (f) Slits for urine application and air exhalation. Urine supply slit and an air exhalation slit are made on the upper plastic film in figure 5(f). It is noted from figure 5(e) that the heating rollers press and bond all layers into the paper battery. Other heating means such as ultrasonic heating equipment could be used instead of the heating rollers

Figure 6 shows a photograph of the prototype paper battery where all layers of copper, CuCl doped filter paper and magnesium are bonded together between the transparent upper and lower plastic films. The overall dimensions are 6 cm 3 cm and those for the CuCl-doped paper are 4 cm 2 cm. Three pieces of Mg of dimensions 0.2 mm 3 mm 5 cm are used to provide greater reaction area.

Figure 7 shows the SEM micrograph of the cross-section of the laminated paper battery. The stack of the active layers of Mg, CuCl-doped paper and Cu can be seen between the upper and lower plastic layers. The adhesive on the upper and lower plastic layers melts and solidifies to hold the active layers together when the whole layer is laminated into the paper battery in figure 5(e). Figure 8&9: Measured outputs of the battery with the load resistors of 1 k _ and 10 k_ after activation by 0.2 ml of human urine. The urine is placed at the slit of figure 5(f) for activation &Effects of more urine on voltage: the second human urine droplet of 0.2 ml is added after 15 h. The load resistor of 10 k _ is used

4. Results and discussion:

The output voltage of ten fabricated batteries has been measured with respect to time for the load resistors of 1 k and 10 k . A voltmeter is used to measure the voltage across the load resistor in figure 2(b). Figure 8 shows the measured voltage outputs of the fabricated batteries with the load resistors of 1 k and 10 k after a droplet of human urine of 0.2 ml is placed on the urine supply slit of figure 1. The output voltage of the battery with the 10 k load resistor reaches the maximum voltage of 1.47 V, decreases with time and remains at a constant voltage of 1.04 V for 90 min. The output voltage of the battery with the 1 k load resistor reaches a maximum voltage of 1.21 V, decreases with time and drops to 0.72 V after 90 min. The maximum powers are 1.5 mW for the 1k load resistor and 0.22 mW for the 10

k load resistor. More battery experiments show similar voltage output patterns described in figure 8. The maximum voltage and the voltage at 90 min with respect to the 10 k and 1 k resistors are summarized in table 1 as the representative battery performance. All batteries have similar voltage at a given load resistor. With the 10 k load resistor, the average maximum voltage and the voltage at 90 min were 1.46 V and 1.02 V, respectively. With the 1 k load resistor, the average maximum voltage and the voltage at 90 min were 1.20 V and 0.73 V, respectively. Figure 9 shows voltages when a subsequent droplet of 0.2 ml is added after the battery is tested with the load resistance of 10 k (figure 8) for 15 h. Two sets of voltage output are shown in figure 9 for comparison. After adding the second droplet of 0.2 ml, the voltage recovers back to 1.2 V and decreases afterwards in a similar pattern. This shows that more urine can generate more electrical energy after the battery activated by the first droplet of urine is replenished. This battery can be fabricated and integrated into a bioMEMS to supply power to run energy-consuming devices such as biosensors or the electric type DNA chip.

Conclusion:
The first urine-activated paper battery has been demonstrated for on-demand bioMEMS and disposal usages. Basic concepts of the battery operation are presented and the prototype micro-battery is fabricated by using a simple and cheap plastic lamination fabrication process. In this preliminary demonstration, Mg is used as the anode for generating electrons, and CuCl distributed in a filter paper is selected as the cathode. The experimental study on the micro-battery showed that a maximum voltage of 1.47 V and a maximum power of 1.5 mW for the 1 k load resistor have been achieved. It is foreseeable that the voltage, current and capacity of the micro-battery can be improved by making series or parallel battery designs as well as by choosing other electrode/electrolyte systems. This demonstrates the feasibility of using the urine-activated paper battery for ondemand bioMEMS/bioapplication devices including home base health test kits

References:
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