Electrocatalysis by hydrogenases: lessons for building bio-inspired device

• Autor(a) principal: McPherson,Ian J.
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Vincent,Kylie A.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-50532014000300004
• topic: electrocatalysis; bioelectrochemistry; hydrogenase; enzyme fuel cell; hydrogen production

A number of redox enzymes function as excellent electrocatalysts when attached to electrodes or conductor/semi-conductor surfaces. A particular focus of this review is on hydrogenases, enzymes which use a di-iron or nickel-iron center to interconvert 2H+ and H2 at extremely high turnover frequencies, although the concepts we highlight apply to a wider range of redox enzymes. Taking hydrogenases as our main case study, we examine how a detailed electrochemical understanding of the electrocatalytic behaviour of an enzyme can inform the development of devices in which the enzyme exchanges electrons directly with a range of inorganic materials, including graphite electrodes and particles, semi-conductor electrodes and quantum dots. We review recent developments in composite enzyme-inorganic catalysts, some of the biological and materials challenges in building devices based on enzymes, and the future opportunities for devices based on biological catalysts, including fuel cells, light-driven fuel production and coupled catalysis for chemical synthesis.