Electrochemical conversion of excess sugar in the simulated body fluid over a few electrocatalytic materials in fuel cell to useful renewable electrical energy

Abstract

Diabetes, a chronic metabolic disorder, continues to pose a significant global health challenge, affecting millions of individuals worldwide. The prevalence of diabetes has reached epidemic proportions, with both developed and developing countries experiencing a dramatic increase in cases. Untreated or poorly treated diabetes accounts for approximately 1.5 million deaths per year. Such a situation calls for a novel and alternative route to deal with this epidemic problem, that can be used by patients worldwide. This thesis paper attempts to find a solution to this problem, by taking the route of electrochemistry. It was attempted to demonstrate that the excess sugar (glucose) in the blood stream of a diabetic patient, can be lowered by electro-oxidising the excess sugar in Simulated Body Fuid (SBF) and convert it into energy. Initially, one of the most popular as well as costly electrocatalytic material i.e Platinum was used to electro-oxidise the excess sugar. Upon its success, some highly eletrocatalytic but cheap electrode materials were developed and they also successfully electro-oxidised the excess glucose in SBF solution. Thus a potentially novel route to deal with the epidemic problem of diabetes, has been proposed through this research work.