Hydrogen evolution by a photoelectrochemical cell based on a Cu2O-ZnO-[FeFe] hydrogenase electrode

A Cu2O-ZnO-hydrogenase photocathode possessed enzyme/semiconductor junction has been constructed by immobilizing a biological protein catalyst, hydrogenase-CrHydA1 enzyme on the ZnO protected Cu2O electrode. With light illumination, a photocurrent of 0.8 mA/cm(2) at 0.15 V vs. RHE was obtained and hydrogen was successfully detected from the photocathode in photoelectrochemical measurements with Faradaic efficiency of ca. 1%. The construction as well as the stability of the system are also reported. The result shows that this biohybrid photocathode is capable of photocatalytic proton reduction under mild conditions. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.