Jul 23, 2018 | |
Hybrid bio-inorganic system for water splitting(Nanowerk News) With the consumption of massive fossil fuel, significant amounts of CO2 has been released into the atmosphere, and caused serious environmental problems. |
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A hybrid bio-inorganic system can effectively combine the advantage of electrocatalysis and biosynthesis, and achieve the efficient conversion of CO2 to high value-added compounds. | |
However, intimate coupling of electrocatalysis and biosynthesis requires electrocatalysts that possess both high catalytic performance and excellent biocompatibility, which is a bottleneck of developing such catalysts. | |
Nickel nanoparticles-embedded N-doped carbon nanotubes |
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In the ChemSusChem journal ("Water Splitting–Biosynthetic Hybrid System for CO2 Conversion using Nickel Nanoparticles Embedded in N-Doped Carbon Nanotubes"), a joint research team from the College of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Zhejiang University has developed a novel Ni nanoparticles-embedded N-doped carbon nanotubes (Ni@N-C) complex for hydrogen evolution reaction. | |
In the Ni@N-C hybrid, the Ni nanoparticles were successfully encapsulated in N-doped carbon nanotubes. Benefiting from the unique structure, the Ni@N-C hybrid achieved high HER catalytic activity and excellent biocompatibility simultaneously in the hybrid bio-inorganic system. | |
Efficient conversion of CO2 to poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) in a water splitting–biosynthetic hybrid system |
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The Ni@N-C hybrid was further coupled with a hydrogen-oxidizing autotroph, Cupriavidus necator H16, to build a water splitting-biosynthetic hybrid system for CO2 conversion to PHB. | |
In the hybrid system, the Ni nanoparticles embedded structure effectively isolated the Ni from the bacteria and avoided the direct contact between Ni and bacteria. | |
Also, encapsulating Ni nanoparticles into the N-C nanotubes prevented Ni2+ ions leaching, which significantly improved the biocompatibility of Ni@N-C hybrid. | |
In addition, the embedding of Ni nanoparticles and doping of N atoms into the carbon nanotubes could guarantee the high HER activity and good stability of the Ni@N-C hybrid in the system. Finally, a maximal PHB production of 384.30 ± 6.53 mg L-1 with the maximum PHB production rate of 207.86 ± 4.03 g m-2 L-1 d-1 were obtained, which is comparable to that of Pt/C catalyst. | |
The low cost of Ni@N-C hybrid makes it a good alternative to commercial Pt/C in building these hybrid systems. This work provides an important strategy for designing electrocatalysts with both high HER activity and excellent biocompatibility in bio-inorganic hybrid systems for efficient conversion of CO2 to high value products. |
Source: Zhejiang University | |
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