NADPH performs mediated electron transfer in cyanobacterial-driven bio-photoelectrochemical cells

iScience

Benjamin Eichenbaum¹  Varda Liveanu¹  Tünde N. Tóth²  Noam Adir²  Gadi Schuster²  Guy Levin³  Yaniv Shlosberg³ 

[1] Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel;Faculty of Biology, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel;Grand Technion Energy Program, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel;

关键词: Bio-Electrochemistry;    Microbiology;    Biotechnology;    Energy Engineering;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Summary: Previous studies have shown that live cyanobacteria can produce photocurrent in bio-photoelectrochemical cells (BPECs) that can be exploited for clean renewable energy production. Electron transfer from cyanobacteria to the electrochemical cell was proposed to be facilitated by small molecule(s) mediator(s) whose identity (or identities) remain unknown. Here, we elucidate the mechanism of electron transfer in the BPEC by identifying the major electron mediator as NADPH in three cyanobacterial species. We show that an increase in the concentration of NADPH secreted into the external cell medium (ECM) is obtained by both illumination and activation of the BPEC. Elimination of NADPH in the ECM abrogates the photocurrent while addition of exogenous NADP+ significantly increases and prolongs the photocurrent production. NADP+ is thus the first non-toxic, water soluble electron mediator that can functionally link photosynthetic cells to an energy conversion system and may serve to improve the performance of future BPECs.

【 授权许可】

Unknown