Microbial Photoelectrosynthesis for Self-Sustaining Hydrogen Generation

Lu, Lu; Williams, Nicholas B.; Turner, John A.; Maness, Pin-Ching; Gu, Jing; Ren, Zhiyong Jason

doi:10.1021/acs.est.7b03644

Title: Microbial Photoelectrosynthesis for Self-Sustaining Hydrogen Generation

Journal Article · Tue Oct 17 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Environmental Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b03644· OSTI ID:1409491

Lu, Lu ^[1]; Williams, Nicholas B. ^[2]; Turner, John A. ^[3]; Maness, Pin-Ching ^[4]; Gu, Jing ^[2];

^[1]

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.

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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

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Cited by: 28 works

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