Keeping intermediates on the track: towards tailored metabolons for bioelectrocatalysis

Enzymatic fuel cells suffer from a severe limitation: they convert only a fraction of the substrate's chemical energy into electricity. The reason for this limitation lies in the specificity of single enzymes, which are not able to completely oxidize complex organic substrates such as glucose. Enzyme cascade electrodes may help to overcome this limitation; however, they are only a starting point. In their communication, Moehlenbrock et al. have proposed the use of metabolon structures - biomimetically linked multienzyme complexes - as anode catalysts. Depending on their further development, metabolon-based biofuel cells may be able to overcome today's biofuel cell limitations and close the gaps between the current technologies of enzymatic and microbial fuel cells.