Solar hydrogen-producing bionanodevice outperforms natural photosynthesis

Although a number of solar biohydrogen systems employing photosystem I (PSI) have been developed, few attain the electron transfer throughput of oxygenic photosynthesis. We have optimized a biological/organic nanoconstruct that directly tethers FB , the terminal [4Fe-4S] cluster of PSI fromSynechococcus sp. PCC 7002, to the distal [4Fe-4S] cluster of the [FeFe]-hydrogenase (H2 ase) fromClostridium acetobutylicum . On illumination, the PSI–[FeFe]-H2 ase nanoconstruct evolves H2 at a rate of 2,200 ± 460 μ mol mg chlorophyll-1  h-1 , which is equivalent to 105 ± 22 e- PSI-1  s-1 . Cyanobacteria evolve O2 at a rate of approximately 400 μ mol mg chlorophyll-1  h-1 , which is equivalent to 47 e- PSI-1  s-1 , given a PSI to photosystem II ratio of 1.8. The greater than twofold electron throughput by this hybrid biological/organic nanoconstruct over in vivo oxygenic photosynthesis validates the concept of tethering proteins through their redox cofactors to overcome diffusion-based rate limitations on electron transfer.