A surface-display biohybrid approach to light-driven hydrogen production in air.

Abstract

Solar-to-chemical production by artificial and bioinspired photosynthetic systems is of tremendous interest to help solve current global energy and environmental problems. We developed a bioinorganic hybrid system for photocatalytic hydrogen production under aerobic conditions by combining light-harvesting semiconductors, hydrogenase catalysis, and self-aggregation of whole bacterial cells. We induced hydrogen production via self-photosynthesis in engineered <i>Escherichia coli</i> cells, which were originally designed for bioremediation, with in situ biosynthesis of biocompatible cadmium sulfide nanoparticles using a surface-display system. We also introduced a biomimetic silica encapsulation strategy into the engineered <i>E. coli</i> cells, enabling this hybrid system to continuously produce hydrogen for 96 hours, even under natural aerobic conditions. This biohybrid catalytic approach may serve as a general strategy for solar-to-chemical production.