• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2016

Melanin is a common name used for a certain type of natural dark pigments existing in living organisms, particularly in human hair, eyes, and skin. The unique free radical scavenging effect of melanine could help protecting cells and tissues from harmful UV light. While their exact molecular structures in nature are not still well defined, their multifunctional properties including electrical and ionic conductivities, antioxidation, wet adhesion, and metal ion chelation, are highlighted for the potential applications in bioorganic electronics including biomedical sensors and devices. In this mini-review, we will discuss sources, synthesis methods, structures and multifunctional properties of melanin materials in addition to current research directions on a wide range of applications.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.242-247
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• 2017

This study presents a bio-chemical energy harvesting system which can generate electric power from bioorganic substance contained in vermicompost. It produced electricity by inoculating microbial fuel cell(MFC) with earthworm-composted food waste. The generated electricity was converted into usable voltage level for mobile electronics through power conditioning circuits. The implemented prototype showed $200{\mu}W$ of maximum output electric power, which successfully supplied a beacon device which continuously transmitted data to nearby smartphone without a battery. The proposed system can help develop portable or bio-mimetic energy supply for sustainable use with further improvement.