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Towards artificial photosynthesis for solar hydrogen generation—Algal protein gives boost to electr…
http://www.empa.ch/plugin/template/empa/3/115657/---/l=2[font face=Times, Serif][font size=5]Towards artificial photosynthesis for solar hydrogen generation[/font]
[font size=4]Algal protein gives boost to electrochemical water splitting[/font]
19 December 2011
[font size=3]Water splitting in photo-electrochemical cells to yield hydrogen is a promising way to sustainable fuels. A team of Swiss and US scientists now made major progress in developing highly efficient electrodes – made of an algal protein, thus mimicking a central step in natural photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis is considered the «Holy Grail» in the field of sustainable energy generation because it directly converts solar energy into storable fuel using nothing but water and carbon dioxide (CO2). Scientists have long tried to mimic the underlying natural processes and to optimize them for energy device applications such as photo-electrochemical cells (PEC), which use sunlight to electrochemically split water – and thus directly generate hydrogen, cutting short the more conventional approach using photovoltaic cells for the electrolysis of water.
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[font size=4]Inspired by photosynthesis[/font]
Iron oxide, in particular hematite (alpha-Fe2O3), is a promising electrode material for PEC because it is susceptible to visible wavelengths and thus uses sunlight more efficiently than photocatalysts like TiO2, which can only use the UV part of solar radiation. What’s more, hematite is a low-cost and abundant material.
The second ingredient in the novel electrode «recipe» is phycocyanin, a protein from blue-green algae. «I was inspired by the natural photosynthetic machinery of cyanobacteria where phycocyanin acts as a major light-harvesting component. I wanted to make artificial photosynthesis using ceramics and proteins», recalls Debajeet K. Bora who designed the new electrode during his PhD thesis at Empa. «The concept of hematite surface functionalization with proteins was completely novel in PEC research.»
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1211934[font size=4]Algal protein gives boost to electrochemical water splitting[/font]
19 December 2011
[font size=3]Water splitting in photo-electrochemical cells to yield hydrogen is a promising way to sustainable fuels. A team of Swiss and US scientists now made major progress in developing highly efficient electrodes – made of an algal protein, thus mimicking a central step in natural photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis is considered the «Holy Grail» in the field of sustainable energy generation because it directly converts solar energy into storable fuel using nothing but water and carbon dioxide (CO2). Scientists have long tried to mimic the underlying natural processes and to optimize them for energy device applications such as photo-electrochemical cells (PEC), which use sunlight to electrochemically split water – and thus directly generate hydrogen, cutting short the more conventional approach using photovoltaic cells for the electrolysis of water.
…
[font size=4]Inspired by photosynthesis[/font]
Iron oxide, in particular hematite (alpha-Fe2O3), is a promising electrode material for PEC because it is susceptible to visible wavelengths and thus uses sunlight more efficiently than photocatalysts like TiO2, which can only use the UV part of solar radiation. What’s more, hematite is a low-cost and abundant material.
The second ingredient in the novel electrode «recipe» is phycocyanin, a protein from blue-green algae. «I was inspired by the natural photosynthetic machinery of cyanobacteria where phycocyanin acts as a major light-harvesting component. I wanted to make artificial photosynthesis using ceramics and proteins», recalls Debajeet K. Bora who designed the new electrode during his PhD thesis at Empa. «The concept of hematite surface functionalization with proteins was completely novel in PEC research.»
…[/font][/font]
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