Self-Assembled Zinc/Cystine-Based Chloroplast Mimics Capable of Photoenzymatic Reactions for Sustainable Fuel Synthesis

Prototypes of biosystems provide good blueprints for the design and creation of biomimetic systems. However, mimicking both the sophisticated natural structures and their complex biological functions still remains a great challenge. Herein, chloroplast mimics have been fabricated by one-step bioinspired amino acid mineralization and simultaneous integration of catalytically active units. Hierarchically structured crystals were obtained by the metal-ion-directed self-assembly of cystine (the oxidized dimer of the amino acid cysteine), with a porous structure and stacks of nanorods, which show similar architectural principles to chloroplasts. Porphyrins and enzymes can both be encapsulated inside the crystal during mineralization, rendering the crystal photocatalytically and enzymatically active for an efficient and sustainable synthesis of hydrogen and acetaldehyde in a coupled photoenzymatic reaction.