Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 102, Issue 47, Pages 16951-16954Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0504499102
Keywords
biohydrogen; electron transfer; energy; fuel cell; hydrogenase
Categories
Funding
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/D52222X/1] Funding Source: Medline
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/D52222X/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Use of hydrogen in fuel cells requires catalysts that are tolerant to oxygen and are able to function in the presence of poisons such as carbon monoxide. Hydrogen-cycling catalysts are widespread in the bacterial world in the form of hydrogenases, enzymes with unusual active sites composed of iron, or nickel and iron, that are buried within the protein. We have established that the membrane-bound hydrogenase from the beta-proteobacterium Ralstonia eutropha H16, when adsorbed at a graphite electrode, exhibits rapid electrocatalytic oxidation of hydrogen that is completely unaffected by carbon monoxide [at 0.9 bar (11 bar = 100 kPa), a 9-fold excess] and is inhibited only partially by oxygen. The practical significance of this discovery is illustrated with a simple fuel cell device, thus demonstrating the feasibility of future hydrogen-cycle technologies based on biological or biologically inspired electrocatalysts having high selectivity for hydrogen.
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