Genetically engineered blood protein can be used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen

[Gen-X]

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspg...-23?newsid=3016

 

Scientists have combined two molecules that occur naturally in blood to engineer a molecular complex that uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, says research published today in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

 

This molecular complex can use energy from the sun to create hydrogen gas, providing an alternative to electrolysis, the method typically used to split water into its constituent parts. The breakthrough may pave the way for the development of novel ways of creating hydrogen gas for use as fuel in the future.

 

Professors Tsuchida and Komatsu from Waseda University, Japan, in collaboration with Imperial College London, synthesised a large molecular complex from albumin, a protein molecule that is found at high levels in blood serum, and porphyrin, a molecule which is used to carry oxygen around the body and gives blood its deep red colour. Porphyrin molecules are normally found combined with metals, and in their natural state in the blood they have an iron atom at their centre. The scientists modified the porphyrin molecule to swap the iron for a zinc atom in the middle, which completely changed the chemistry and characteristics of the molecule.

 

This modified porphyrin molecule was then combined with albumin; with the albumin molecule itself being modified by genetic engineering to enhance the efficiency of the process. The resulting molecular complex was proven to be sensitive to light, and can capture light energy in a way that allows water molecules to be split into molecules of hydrogen and oxygen.

[bonobo]

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspg...-23?newsid=3016

 

Scientists have combined two molecules that occur naturally in blood to engineer a molecular complex that uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, says research published today in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

 

This molecular complex can use energy from the sun to create hydrogen gas, providing an alternative to electrolysis, the method typically used to split water into its constituent parts. The breakthrough may pave the way for the development of novel ways of creating hydrogen gas for use as fuel in the future.

 

Professors Tsuchida and Komatsu from Waseda University, Japan, in collaboration with Imperial College London, synthesised a large molecular complex from albumin, a protein molecule that is found at high levels in blood serum, and porphyrin, a molecule which is used to carry oxygen around the body and gives blood its deep red colour. Porphyrin molecules are normally found combined with metals, and in their natural state in the blood they have an iron atom at their centre. The scientists modified the porphyrin molecule to swap the iron for a zinc atom in the middle, which completely changed the chemistry and characteristics of the molecule.

 

This modified porphyrin molecule was then combined with albumin; with the albumin molecule itself being modified by genetic engineering to enhance the efficiency of the process. The resulting molecular complex was proven to be sensitive to light, and can capture light energy in a way that allows water molecules to be split into molecules of hydrogen and oxygen.

 

Can't see this going anywhere personally, especially as plants seem to have cornered the energy-capturing-porphyrin market along time ago with chlorophyll. Very similar to heme, but with a magnesium atom at the centre.

 

One potential source of energy storage I once pondered on was acidophilic bacteria. They exist in highly acidic conditions (pH1 to 2) but the inside of the cell is ph7 (neutral). The molecular proton pumps necessary to maintain such a pH gradient over the few micron distance of their semi permeable cell membranes must be quite impressive. There must be some way of harnessing that on a larger scale using large 2D membranes of cloned protein

[malco]

We will have to wait and see. Is it better than solar cells? Hydrogen carried in vehicles as a fuel does not look so promising to me, relative to electricity. It is also much easier to transmit lekky than H2 over long distances.

[drbubb]

Better not let that bug loose