Open AccessMicrobiorhodopsin a powerful candidate for a photosensitizer of the TiO2-based pollutant degradation system
Author(s) -
Melissa,
Bayaritu,
Yuxia Yang,
Kai Li,
Chaoluo Meng
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/784/1/012020
Subject(s) - bacteriorhodopsin , halobacterium salinarum , photosensitizer , degradation (telecommunications) , photocatalysis , photochemistry , pollutant , chemistry , materials science , chemical engineering , membrane , catalysis , biochemistry , organic chemistry , computer science , telecommunications , engineering
Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) is a light driven proton pump firstly found in the membrane of Halobacterium salinarum . Because of its high quantum efficiency, high stability under harsh conditions and many interesting photochemical properties, BR was shown to be able to enhance the performance of TiO 2 materials in TiO 2 -based solar cell, photocatalytic water splitting and photocatalytic degradation of pollutants. However, high cost of the preparation of the BR restricts its industrial application. Although numerous attempts have been made, E. coli -expression system of the BR, which is most economic and fast way to prepare proteins, has not been developed yet. In the present work, we successfully expressed BR homolog, Archaerhodopsin (AR) found in a Halorubrum species by E. col i-expression system. The E. coli expressed AR retained its photoactivity and showed similar photoreaction properties as that of BR. The E. coli expressed AR might be an excellent candidate for a photosensitizer of the TiO 2 -based solar energy conversion system.