Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-06-18

Re-wiring of photosystem II enzymes to metal-oxide electrodes in artificial photosynthetic devices for enhanced photocatalytic water splitting performance

Objective

"Photocatalytic water splitting is an attractive means of efficiently converting solar energy into a storable hydrogen fuel, offering a clean and renewable source of energy that can replace fossil fuel. In this study, the Photosystem II (PSII) enzyme is employed as a biological catalyst in important proof-of-principle studies to establish the basic principles behind emerging artificial photosynthetic devices for efficient light-driven water splitting. Currently, the maximal output of PSII-based photocatalytic water splitting systems is capped by a number of factors, most significantly the non-ideal ‘wiring’ of the enzymes to the electrode giving rise to inefficient electron transfer. The present Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship (IIF) project proposes to enhance the performance of benchmark PSII-based photocatalytic systems by ‘rewiring’ the electron transfer from the bio-catalyst to the anode to eliminate inefficient steps, and hence establish new maximal outputs achievable by such systems. This will be achieved by directed immobilisation of the PSII to the anode, followed by the inhibition of redox events in the electron flow pathway to bypass the rate-limiting step. Moreover, current photocatatlyic water splitting systems rely on expensive rare-earth components which are ultimately non-sustainable and uneconomical for use in future photocatalytic devices. In this study, newly accessible nano-structured earth-abundant substrates will be investigated as electrode material to ultimately encourage the development of more sustainable systems for photocatalytic water splitting."

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IIF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-IIF - International Incoming Fellowships (IIF)

Coordinator

THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
EU contribution
€ 221 606,40
Address
TRINITY LANE THE OLD SCHOOLS
CB2 1TN Cambridge
United Kingdom

See on map

Region
East of England East Anglia Cambridgeshire CC
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0