Photosystem II-Carbon Nitride Photoanodes for Scalable Biophotoelectrochemistry

Huayang Zhang; Wenjie Tian; Jingkai Lin; Peng Zhang; Guosheng Shao; Sai Kishore Ravi; Hongqi Sun; Emiliano Cortés; Virgil Andrei; Shaobin Wang

doi:10.1002/adma.202508813

Photosystem II-Carbon Nitride Photoanodes for Scalable Biophotoelectrochemistry

Huayang Zhang (Co-first Author)
, Wenjie Tian (Co-first Author)
, Jingkai Lin
, Peng Zhang
, Guosheng Shao
, Sai Kishore Ravi
, Hongqi Sun^*
, Emiliano Cortés^*
, Virgil Andrei^*
, Shaobin Wang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Energy and Environment

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Photosystem II (PSII) is a vital photosynthetic enzyme with the potential for sustainable bioelectricity and fuel generation. However, interfacing PSII with intricate, small-scale electrodes for practical applications has been challenging. This study addresses this by creating protonated macroporous carbon nitride (MCN) as support and developing a scalable spray-freeze method to wire PSII with MCN. This facilitates the production of large-area MCN-PSII photoanodes up to 33 cm² for biophotoelectrochemical water oxidation to O₂, achieving efficient interfacial charge transfer and initial photocurrents in the mA range with Faradaic yield of 93.5 ± 8.5% over 5 h. A bias-free biophotoelectrochemical (BPEC) device is designed by connecting the MCN-PSII photoanode to a carbon nanotube cathode loaded with bilirubin oxidase. An array of eight tandem BPEC cells with a photoactive area of 72 cm² successfully powers low-power electronics, such as LEDs. This work paves an efficient way for bioelectrode fabrication, showcasing the potential of PSII-based semi-artificial systems for BPEC and biophotovoltaic applications. © 2025 The Author(s).

Original language	English
Article number	e08813
Number of pages	11
Journal	Advanced Materials
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202508813
Publication status	Online published - 15 Aug 2025

Funding

The authors acknowledge funding and support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany´s Excellence Strategy – EXC 2089/1 – 390776260, the Bavarian program Solar Technologies Go Hybrid (SolTech), and the Center for NanoScience (CeNS). This work was funded by the Discovery Project (DP230102406, DP240102787), Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE220101074), and Australian Laureate Fellowships (FL230100178) from the Australian Research Council

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Research Keywords

artificial photosynthesis
biophotovoltaic
macroporous carbon nitride
photoelectrochemistry
photosystem II

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title = "Photosystem II-Carbon Nitride Photoanodes for Scalable Biophotoelectrochemistry",

abstract = "Photosystem II (PSII) is a vital photosynthetic enzyme with the potential for sustainable bioelectricity and fuel generation. However, interfacing PSII with intricate, small-scale electrodes for practical applications has been challenging. This study addresses this by creating protonated macroporous carbon nitride (MCN) as support and developing a scalable spray-freeze method to wire PSII with MCN. This facilitates the production of large-area MCN-PSII photoanodes up to 33 cm2 for biophotoelectrochemical water oxidation to O2, achieving efficient interfacial charge transfer and initial photocurrents in the mA range with Faradaic yield of 93.5 ± 8.5\% over 5 h. A bias-free biophotoelectrochemical (BPEC) device is designed by connecting the MCN-PSII photoanode to a carbon nanotube cathode loaded with bilirubin oxidase. An array of eight tandem BPEC cells with a photoactive area of 72 cm2 successfully powers low-power electronics, such as LEDs. This work paves an efficient way for bioelectrode fabrication, showcasing the potential of PSII-based semi-artificial systems for BPEC and biophotovoltaic applications. {\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s).",

keywords = "artificial photosynthesis, biophotovoltaic, macroporous carbon nitride, photoelectrochemistry, photosystem II",

author = "Huayang Zhang and Wenjie Tian and Jingkai Lin and Peng Zhang and Guosheng Shao and Ravi, \{Sai Kishore\} and Hongqi Sun and Emiliano Cort{\'e}s and Virgil Andrei and Shaobin Wang",

year = "2025",

month = aug,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1002/adma.202508813",

language = "English",

journal = "Advanced Materials",

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publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Photosystem II-Carbon Nitride Photoanodes for Scalable Biophotoelectrochemistry

AU - Zhang, Huayang

AU - Tian, Wenjie

AU - Lin, Jingkai

AU - Zhang, Peng

AU - Shao, Guosheng

AU - Ravi, Sai Kishore

AU - Sun, Hongqi

AU - Cortés, Emiliano

AU - Andrei, Virgil

AU - Wang, Shaobin

PY - 2025/8/15

Y1 - 2025/8/15

N2 - Photosystem II (PSII) is a vital photosynthetic enzyme with the potential for sustainable bioelectricity and fuel generation. However, interfacing PSII with intricate, small-scale electrodes for practical applications has been challenging. This study addresses this by creating protonated macroporous carbon nitride (MCN) as support and developing a scalable spray-freeze method to wire PSII with MCN. This facilitates the production of large-area MCN-PSII photoanodes up to 33 cm2 for biophotoelectrochemical water oxidation to O2, achieving efficient interfacial charge transfer and initial photocurrents in the mA range with Faradaic yield of 93.5 ± 8.5% over 5 h. A bias-free biophotoelectrochemical (BPEC) device is designed by connecting the MCN-PSII photoanode to a carbon nanotube cathode loaded with bilirubin oxidase. An array of eight tandem BPEC cells with a photoactive area of 72 cm2 successfully powers low-power electronics, such as LEDs. This work paves an efficient way for bioelectrode fabrication, showcasing the potential of PSII-based semi-artificial systems for BPEC and biophotovoltaic applications. © 2025 The Author(s).

AB - Photosystem II (PSII) is a vital photosynthetic enzyme with the potential for sustainable bioelectricity and fuel generation. However, interfacing PSII with intricate, small-scale electrodes for practical applications has been challenging. This study addresses this by creating protonated macroporous carbon nitride (MCN) as support and developing a scalable spray-freeze method to wire PSII with MCN. This facilitates the production of large-area MCN-PSII photoanodes up to 33 cm2 for biophotoelectrochemical water oxidation to O2, achieving efficient interfacial charge transfer and initial photocurrents in the mA range with Faradaic yield of 93.5 ± 8.5% over 5 h. A bias-free biophotoelectrochemical (BPEC) device is designed by connecting the MCN-PSII photoanode to a carbon nanotube cathode loaded with bilirubin oxidase. An array of eight tandem BPEC cells with a photoactive area of 72 cm2 successfully powers low-power electronics, such as LEDs. This work paves an efficient way for bioelectrode fabrication, showcasing the potential of PSII-based semi-artificial systems for BPEC and biophotovoltaic applications. © 2025 The Author(s).

KW - artificial photosynthesis

KW - biophotovoltaic

KW - macroporous carbon nitride

KW - photoelectrochemistry

KW - photosystem II

UR - https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:001550386200001

U2 - 10.1002/adma.202508813

DO - 10.1002/adma.202508813

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

SN - 0935-9648

JO - Advanced Materials

JF - Advanced Materials

M1 - e08813

ER -

Photosystem II-Carbon Nitride Photoanodes for Scalable Biophotoelectrochemistry

Abstract

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UN SDGs

Research Keywords

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