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Updated: Sep 14, 2025
Developing Photosensitizer-Cobaloxime Hybrids for Solar-Driven H2 Production in Aqueous Aerobic Conditions
Published on: October 5, 2019
Crystal facet optimization in cadmium sulfide/reduced graphene oxide-based photosynthetic biohybrid systems for
Xue-Meng Wang1, Zhi-Xuan Zhang1, Lin Chen2
1Key Laboratory of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, MOE, School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China.
Abstract:
The development of photosynthetic biohybrid systems (PBSs) integrating inorganic light absorbers with non-photosynthetic bacteria innovate wastewater valorization via organics bioconversion, yet interfacial electron transfer bottlenecks limit efficiency. To address this, we regulated crystal facet exposure ratios in cadmium sulfide/reduced graphene oxide (CdS/RGO) through hydrothermal synthesis time control, observing facet-dependent activity trends. The optimized biohybrid achieved a maximum hydrogen yield of 2195.3 μmol (233.6 µmol·g-1·h-1 over 8 h), representing a 295 % enhancement over unmodified PBSs. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that increased exposure of high-activity (103) and (112) facets correlated with reduced work function values, promoting electron emission. Synergistically combined with RGO's electron-shuttling function, this facilitated charge transfer to bacterial outer membrane proteins. These results demonstrate facet engineering as a tunable strategy for enhancing electron donation capacity in PBSs, offering design principles for biohybrid systems.
