Biologically templated photocatalytic nanostructures for sustained light-driven water oxidation

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Abstract
Over several billion years, cyanobacteria and plants have evolved highly organized photosynthetic systems to shuttle both electronic and chemical species for the efficient oxidation of water1. In a similar manner to reaction centres in natural photosystems, molecular2 and metal oxide3 catalysts have been used to photochemically oxidize water. However, the various approaches involving the molecular design of ligands4, surface modification5 and immobilization6,7 still have limitations in terms of catalytic efficiency and sustainability. Here, we demonstrate a biologically templated nanostructure for visible light-driven water oxidation that uses a genetically engineered M13 virus scaffold to mediate the co-assembly of zinc porphyrins (photosensitizer) and iridium oxide hydrosol clusters (catalyst). Porous polymer microgels are used as an immobilization matrix to improve the structural durability of the assembled nanostructures and to allow the materials to be recycled. Our results suggest that the biotemplated nanoscale assembly of functional components is a promising route to significantly improved photocatalytic water-splitting systems.

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