Reviewed by Sarah KellyOct 17 2025
A novel battery runs on just glucose and vitamin B2 (riboflavin), according to a new study in ACS Energy Letters. The team developed the battery from a prototype flow cell, drawing inspiration from the way human bodies use enzymes to break down glucose for energy.
A new riboflavin and glucose flow battery generates a greater power density from the sugar than previous designs. Image Credit: Valentyn Volkov/Shutterstock.com
By assisting in the transfer of electrons between the glucose electrolyte and the battery's electrodes, the riboflavin mediator produced an electrochemical flow from energy stored in the sugar.
Riboflavin and glucose flow cells can generate electricity from naturally derived energy sources. Using non-toxic components that are both inexpensive and naturally abundant, this system could be a promising route toward safer and more affordable residential energy storage.
Jong-Hwa Shon, Study Lead Author and Postdoctoral Researcher, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
A flow cell battery stores electrochemical energy in two electrolytes that flow through the system. As reactions take place in the electrolyte and at the electrodes, stored chemical energy is converted into electrical energy and vice versa. Abundant in most plants, glucose could be a cheap and renewable electrolyte for use as the energy source in a flow cell battery.
Current glucose fuel cell prototypes rely on noble metal catalysts to break down sugar molecules and create electricity, but these models produce a small amount of power and are difficult to scale up for commercial and industrial use.
Riboflavin has shown promise as an alternative to these metal catalysts in other flow battery types because it remains stable at the basic pH required by electrolytes in glucose flow cells. Taking inspiration from these previous findings, the team aimed to create a glucose fuel cell using riboflavin as a catalyst.
To create the battery, a carbon material was used to form the positive and negative electrodes. The electrolyte at the negative electrode included an active form of riboflavin and glucose, while the electrolyte at the positive electrode contained potassium ferricyanide or oxygen in a basic pH solution, as is used in traditional fuel cells.
Although the potassium ferricyanide cell allowed the scientists to precisely evaluate riboflavin's catalytic activity, the oxygen cell is a less expensive choice for large-scale, practical applications.
In a demonstration where the flow cell contained potassium ferricyanide, the scientists saw electrons traveling across the cell, resulting in a power density similar to that of existing flow cell batteries that use vanadium metal, when at room temperature.
The oxygen-containing flow cell exhibited a slower electrode response than the cell designed with potassium ferricyanide. According to the researchers, this is likely because the presence of light causes oxygen to break down riboflavin, which would cause the battery to self-discharge. Nonetheless, the oxygen version showed an enhanced power density compared to previous models.
The researchers intend to enhance the power density of the flow cell containing oxygen by preventing light from reacting with riboflavin and refining cell engineering.
The team received funding from the Energy Storage Materials Initiative (ideation and initial experiment) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a Laboratory Directed Research and Development project, and the Energy Storage Research Alliance (experiment, manuscript writing, and revision), an Energy Innovation Hub supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences.
Journal Reference:
Shon, J.-H., et al. (2025) Vitamin-Mediated Glucose Flow Cell for Sustainable Power Generation. ACS Energy Letters. doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.5c02462