Microbial Photoelectrosynthesis for Self-Sustaining Hydrogen Generation
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Dept. of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering
- San Diego State Univ., San Diego, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Chemistry and Nanoscience Center
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Chemistry and Nanoscience Center; National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Biosciences Center
Current artificial photosynthesis (APS) systems are promising for the storage of solar energy via transportable and storable fuels, but the anodic half-reaction of water oxidation is an energy intensive process which in many cases poorly couples with the cathodic half-reaction. Here in this paper, we demonstrate a self-sustaining microbial photoelectrosynthesis (MPES) system that pairs microbial electrochemical oxidation with photoelectrochemical water reduction for energy efficient H2 generation. MPES reduces the overall energy requirements thereby greatly expanding the range of semiconductors that can be utilized in APS. Due to the recovery of chemical energy from waste organics by the mild microbial process and utilization of cost-effective and stable catalyst/electrode materials, our MPES system produced a stable current of 0.4 mA/cm2 for 24 h without any external bias and ~10 mA/cm2 with a modest bias under one sun illumination. Finally, this system also showed other merits, such as creating benefits of wastewater treatment and facile preparation and scalability.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1409491
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5900-70538
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 51, Issue 22; ISSN 0013-936X
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Wastewater treatment for carbon capture and utilization
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journal | December 2018 |
Comment on “Unbiased solar H 2 production with current density up to 23 mA cm −2 by Swiss-cheese black Si coupled with wastewater bioanode” by L. Lu, W. Vakki, J. A. Aguiar, C. Xiao, K. Hurst, M. Fairchild, X. Chen, F. Yang, J. Gu and Z. J. Ren, Energy Environ. Sci. , 2019, 12 , 1088
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journal | January 2019 |
Anaerobic membrane gas extraction facilitates thermophilic hydrogen production from Clostridium thermocellum
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journal | January 2018 |
Electrical decoupling of microbial electrochemical reactions enables spontaneous H 2 evolution
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journal | January 2020 |
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