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Updated: Mar 31, 2026
Photopatterning Proteins and Cells in Aqueous Environment Using TiO2 Photocatalysis
Published on: October 26, 2015
Peptide Self-Assembled Biofilm with Unique Electron Transfer Flexibility for Highly Efficient Visible-Light-Driven
Yun-Xiang Pan1,2, Huai-Ping Cong1,3, Yu-Long Men1
1School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology , Hefei 230009, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Inspired by natural photosynthesis, biomaterial-based catalysts are being confirmed to be excellent for visible-light-driven photocatalysis, but are far less well explored. Herein, an ultrathin and uniform biofilm fabricated from cold-plasma-assisted peptide self-assembly was employed to support Eosin Y (EY) and Pt nanoparticles to form an EY/Pt/Film catalyst for photocatalytic water splitting to H2 and photocatalytic CO2 reduction with water to CO, under irradiation of visible light. The H2 evolution rate on EY/Pt/Film is 62.1 μmol h(-1), which is about 5 times higher than that on Pt/EY and 1.5 times higher than that on the EY/Pt/TiO2 catalyst. EY/Pt/Film exhibits an enhanced CO evolution rate (19.4 μmol h(-1)), as compared with Pt/EY (2.8 μmol h(-1)) and EY/Pt/TiO2 (6.1 μmol h(-1)). The outstanding activity of EY/Pt/Film results from the unique flexibility of the biofilm for an efficient transfer of the photoinduced electrons. The present work is helpful for designing efficient biomaterial-based catalysts for visible-light-driven photocatalysis and for imitating natural photosynthesis.
