Viruses used to split water: biologically based system taps the power of sunlight directly

ScienceDaily (Apr. 12, 2010) - a team of MIT researchers has found a new way to mimic the process, with the plants the power of sunlight use water and chemical fuel parts, switch your growth. The team uses a modified virus as a kind of biological framework that can put together a molecule of water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms to share nanoscale components necessary.

Division of water is a way to solve the problem of solar energy: it is available only if the Sun sunlight to hydrogen from water scheint.Mit make hydrogen then saved and can be used at any time and to electricity to make using a fuel cell, or liquid fuels (or directly use) for cars and trucks.

Other researchers have made systems electricity share the water molecules can be provided by solar cells, but the new biologically based system skips the intermediate steps and sunlight used, the response directly to makes.Progress will be published in a paper on 11. described in nature nanotechnology.

The team led by Angela Belcher, Germeshausen Professor of materials science and engineering and biological engineering, developed a common, harmless bacterial virus M13 called so that it would attract and retain with molecules catalyst (the team uses Iridium oxide) and biological pigment (zinc protoporphyrin IX). The virus was wire-related devices could efficiently share oxygen from water molecules.

Over the years however, the virus wires together would lump and lose its effectiveness, so the researchers added an additional step: encapsulated in a Microgel matrix to hold managed to its uniform layout and its stability and efficiency.

While hydrogen from water won is the gas that would be used, such as fuel, separating of oxygen from water Belcher explains the more technically demanding "half-reaction" in the process, so your team on this part konzentriert.Pflanzen and cyanobacteria (also known as blue - green algae), says "Photosynthetic systems for the efficient oxidation of water have developed highly organized."Other researchers have tried structural stability problems have photosynthetic parts of plants, which use directly for the use of sunlight, but can these materials.

Belcher decided that instead of borrowing the plant components, your methods would leihen.In plant cells are natural pigments uses sunlight to absorb during catalysts, promote the water splitting reaction. This is the process Belcher and decided that mimic your team including PhD candidate Yoon Sung Nam, the lead author of the new paper.

"In the team system viruses Belcher just do as a kind of scaffolding, caused pigments and catalysts to line up with the correct distance to the water splitting reaction trigger. the role of pigments is"which act as antenna, the light", explains" and energy over the entire length of the virus as a Draht.Der then transmitted virus is a very efficient Harvester light, attached with these protoporphyrin IX.

"" "We use components that people have used before,"She adds", but we use biology, to organize you for us to ensure better efficiency."

Using the virus, the system itself put together to make oxygen production fourfold efficiency improved, says Nam.Die researchers hope, a similar biologically based system run the other half of the process, the production of hydrogen to finden.derzeit the hydrogen atoms from the water retained in your component protons and electrons divided, a second part of the system, now developed, this back into the hydrogen atoms and molecules would kombinieren.Das team is also looking for a more daily, less expensive material for the catalyst used relatively rare and expensive Iridium to replace this proof of concept study.

Thomas Mallouk DuPont Professor of materials chemistry and physics involved Pennsylvania State University, which don't work, saying "This is a very clever work, one of the most difficult problems in artificial photosynthesis, namely to control the nanoscale organization of components to electrons transfer prices."

He adds: "It's a difficult combination of problems before they be solved or any other artificial photosynthetic system could be actually useful for energy conversion.""To be cost competitive with other approaches to solar energy, he says, the system location that repeat response to a billion times and less expensive materials to use would have to at least 10 times more efficient than natural photosynthesis in.""" This is unlikely, that in the near future happen ", he says.""Nevertheless, the design idea that illustrated in this paper helped end an important piece of the puzzle."

Belcher is not even speculation about how long it may take to develop this into a commercial product, but says that two years you expected to have, a device of prototype that can perform the entire process of splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen, using a self-sustaining and durable system.

Financing was Italian energy company ENI, provided by the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) by it.

Story source:

The above story is from materials available provided by Massachusetts Institute of technology (with editorial adjustments of ScienceDaily staff) abgedruckt.Der original article was written by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office.

Journal reference:

Yoon Sung Nam, Andrew p. Magyar, Daeyeon Lee, Jin Woong Kim, Dong soo Yun, Heechul Park, Thomas S. Pollom Jr., David A. Weitz and Angela M. Belcher.Water oxidation driven organically on templates based photo catalytic nanostructures for sustainable light .Natur nanotechnology, April 11, 2010 DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.57

Note: If no author is specified, instead cites the source.

View the original article here