Issue 10, 2015

Carbon nitride–TiO2 hybrid modified with hydrogenase for visible light driven hydrogen production

Abstract

A system consisting of a [NiFeSe]–hydrogenase (H2ase) grafted on the surface of a TiO2 nanoparticle modified with polyheptazine carbon nitride polymer, melon (CNx) is reported. This semi-biological assembly shows a turnover number (TON) of more than 5.8 × 105 mol H2 (mol H2ase)−1 after 72 h in a sacrificial electron donor solution at pH 6 during solar AM 1.5 G irradiation. An external quantum efficiency up to 4.8% for photon-to-hydrogen conversion was achieved under irradiation with monochromatic light. The CNx–TiO2–H2ase construct was also active under UV-free solar light irradiation (λ > 420 nm), where it showed a substantially higher activity than TiO2–H2ase and CNx–H2ase due, in part, to the formation of a CNx–TiO2 charge transfer complex and highly productive electron transfer to the H2ase. The CNx–TiO2–H2ase system sets a new benchmark for photocatalytic H2 production with a H2ase immobilised on a noble- and toxic-metal free light absorber in terms of visible light utilisation and stability.

Graphical abstract: Carbon nitride–TiO2 hybrid modified with hydrogenase for visible light driven hydrogen production

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
05 Jun 2015
Accepted
29 Jun 2015
First published
29 Jun 2015
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 5690-5694

Carbon nitride–TiO2 hybrid modified with hydrogenase for visible light driven hydrogen production

C. A. Caputo, L. Wang, R. Beranek and E. Reisner, Chem. Sci., 2015, 6, 5690 DOI: 10.1039/C5SC02017D

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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