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Bias-free photoelectrochemical water splitting with photosystem II on a dye-sensitized photoanode wired to hydrogenase

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Sokol, KP 
Robinson, WE 
Warnan, J 
Kornienko, N 

Abstract

Natural photosynthesis stores sunlight in chemical energy carriers, but it has not evolved for the efficient synthesis of fuels, such as H2. Semi-artificial photosynthesis combines the strengths of natural photosynthesis with synthetic chemistry and materials science to develop model systems that overcome Nature’s limitations, such as low-yielding metabolic pathways and non-complementary light absorption by Photosystem (PS) I and II. Here, we report a bias-free semi-artificial tandem platform that wires PSII to hydrogenase for overall water splitting. This photoelectrochemical cell integrated the red and blue light-absorber PSII with a green light-absorbing diketopyrrolopyrrole dye-sensitised TiO2 photoanode enabling complementary panchromatic solar light absorption. Effective electronic communication at the enzyme-material interface was engineered using an Os complex-modified redox polymer on a hierarchically-structured TiO2. This system provides a design protocol for bias-free semi-artificial Z-schemes in vitro and provides an extended toolbox of biotic and abiotic components to re-engineer photosynthetic pathways.

Description

Keywords

40 Engineering, 4008 Electrical Engineering, 4017 Mechanical Engineering

Journal Title

Nature Energy

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2058-7546
2058-7546

Volume Title

3

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Christian Doppler Forschungsgesellschaft (unknown)
European Research Council (682833)
Royal Society (NF160054)
EPSRC (1504802)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/G037221/1)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L015978/1)
ERC Consolidator Grant, EPSRC (nanoDTC, DTA studentship), Christian Doppler Research Association, OMV Group, Royal Society Newton International Fellowship, Cluster of Excellence RESOLV (DFG) and European Unions' Horizon 2020