Interfacial Assembly of Photosystem II with Conducting Polymer Films toward Enhanced Photo-Bioelectrochemical Cells

A biohybrid photoanode is constructed by integrating photosystem II with doped conducting polymer nanowires that are synthesized by templatedirected electrochemical deposition. Interestingly, at the same applied bias potential ranging from 0 to 0.5 V versus saturated calomel electrode (SCE), this hybrid photoanode shows a higher photocurrent than that of pure photosystem II coated on a bare indium tin oxide (ITO) surface. Particularly, the photocurrent for the integrated photoanode above is enhanced about 39.0-fold with increased stability (0.25 V vs SCE). Such assembled system combining natural photoactive protein with artificial low-cost conducting polymer shows great potential for advanced solar energy conversion.