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Published on: January 7, 2019
Perfluorocarbon Nanoemulsions Create a Beneficial O2 Microenvironment in N2-fixing Biological | Inorganic Hybrid
Shengtao Lu1, Roselyn M Rodrigues1, Shuyuan Huang1
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Abstract:
Powered by renewable electricity, biological | inorganic hybrids employ water-splitting electrocatalysis and generate H2 as reducing equivalents for microbial catalysis. The approach integrates the beauty of biocatalysis with the energy efficiency of inorganic materials for sustainable chemical production. Yet a successful integration requires delicate control of the hybrid's extracellular chemical environment. Such an argument is evident in the exemplary case of O2 because biocatalysis has a stringent requirement of O2 but the electrocatalysis may inadvertently perturb the oxidative pressure of biological moieties. Here we report the addition of perfluorocarbon (PFC) nanoemulsions promote a biocompatible O2 microenvironment in a O2-sensitive N2-fixing biological | inorganic hybrid. Langmuir-type nonspecific binding between bacteria and nanoemulsions facilitates O2 transport in bacterial microenvironment and leads to a 250% increase in efficiency for organic fertilizers within 120 hours. Controlling the biological microenvironment with nanomaterials heralds a general approach accommodating the compatibility in biological | inorganic hybrids.
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