Solar Water Splitting with a Hydrogenase Integrated in Photoelectrochemical Tandem Cells

Dong Heon Nam , Jenny Zhang (1) , Virgil Andrei , Nikolay Kornienko , Nina Heidary , Andreas Wagner , Kenichi Nakanishi , Katarzyna Sokol , Barnaby Slater , Ingo Zebger , Stephan Hofmann , Juan-Carlos Fontecilla-Camps (2) , Chan Beum Park , Erwin Reisner (3)

1 Qingdao University of Science and Technology
2 IBS - UMR 5075 - Institut de biologie structurale
3 Department of Chemistry [Cambridge, UK]

Hydrogenases (H2ases) are benchmark electrocatalysts in H2 production, both in biology and (photo)catalysis in vitro. We report the tailoring of a p-type Si photocathode for optimal loading and wiring of H2ase by the introduction of a hierarchical inverse opal (IO) TiO2 interlayer. This proton reducing Si|IO-TiO2|H2ase photocathode is capable of driving overall water splitting in combination with a complementary photoanode. We demonstrate unassisted (bias-free) water-splitting by wiring Si|IO-TiO2|H2ase to a modified BiVO4 photoanode in a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell during several hours of irradiation. Connecting the Si|IO-TiO2|H2ase to a photosystem II (PSII) photoanode provides proof-of-concept for an engineered Z-scheme that replaces the non-complementary, natural light absorber photosystem I with a complementary abiotic silicon photocathode.

Mots clés: Photosynthesis; hydrogenase; photoelectrochemistry; silicon; water splitting

Domaines: Biologie structurale [q-bio.BM]

Dong Heon Nam, Jenny Zhang, Virgil Andrei, Nikolay Kornienko, Nina Heidary, et al.. Solar Water Splitting with a Hydrogenase Integrated in Photoelectrochemical Tandem Cells. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2018, ⟨10.1002/anie.201805027⟩. ⟨hal-01828160⟩