Elements of bacteria and viruses come together in a new material that catalyzes the production of hydrogen from water more sustainably than reactions catalyzed by precious metals.
Developed by scientists at Indiana Univ. Bloomington, the new material consists of an enzyme for catalyzing the production of hydrogen protected within the protein shell of a virus. Dubbed P22-Hyd after its biological components, the material is not quite as efficient as platinum as a catalyst, but it is far more sustainable, says Trevor Douglas, a professor of chemistry at Indiana Univ. Bloomington.
In essence, “we’ve taken a virus’s ability to self-assemble myriad genetic building blocks and incorporated a very fragile and sensitive enzyme with the remarkable property of taking in protons and spitting out hydrogen gas,” Douglas says. “The end result is a virus-like particle that behaves the same as a highly sophisticated material that catalyzes the production of hydrogen.”
▲ P22-Hyd is a new biocatalyst produced within E. coli cells. Scientists have fused genetic material from the P22 virus to genes in E. coli to produce a self-assembly line of sorts for making tiny capsules of hydrogenase enzyme (green coils) protected by a protein shell (stone-colored material surrounding the green coils). Image courtesy of Indiana Univ. Bloomington....
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