Cell-Free Synthetic Biology Chassis for Nanocatalytic Photon-to-Hydrogen Conversion

摘要

We report on an entirely man-made nano-bio architecture fabricated through noncovalent assembly of a cell-free expressed transmembrane proton pump and TiO2 semiconductor nanoparticles as an efficient nanophotocatalyst for H-2 evolution. The system produces hydrogen at a turnover of about 240 mu mol of H-2 (mu mol protein)(-1) h(-1) and 17.74 mmol of H-2 (mu mol protein)(-1) h(-1) under monochromatic green and white light, respectively, at ambient conditions, in water at neutral pH and room temperature, with methanol as a sacrificial electron donor. Robustness and flexibility of this approach allow for systemic manipulation at the nanoparticle-bio interface toward directed evolution of energy transformation materials and artificial systems.