BISFUEL Research News

Researchers from the laboratory of Giovanna Ghirlanda working on Subtask 3 (Fuel Production Complex) have achieved the synthesis of a peptide-based hydrogenase mimic that is capable of photoinduced hydrogen production. Results of the study have been published in the October 11, 2012, issue of Chemical Communications and the article has been featured on the cover of that issue.

A group of Center for Bio-inspired Solar Fuel Production researchers collaborating on Subtask 2 (Water oxidation catalyst) and Subtask 5 (Functional nanostructured transparent electrode materials) have found that transparent and conducting antimony tin oxide with controlled pore size incorporates DNA nanocages with high affinity and without damage. Results of the study have been published in  the June 2011 issue of ACS Nano. The study has brought the Center scientists a bit closer to a design of a transparent nanostructured electrode with entrapped functional water oxidation catalysts.

Professor Tom Moore, a leader of Subtask 1 (Total systems analysis, assembly and testing) in the Center, is a coauthor of the review paper “Comparing Photosynthetic and Photovoltaic Efficiencies and Recognizing the Potential for Improvement” published in May 13 issue of the Science magazine. In this paper, the multidisciplinary team of authors presented a consensus on comparison of solar energy conversion of photosynthesis and photovoltaics that outlines a road map for engineering of more efficient photosynthetic systems.

Center researchers have developed a new DNA origami design strategy for engineering complex, arbitrarily shaped 3D DNA nanostructures that have substantial intrinsic curvatures. This strategy has been presented in a paper by Professors Hao Yan, Yan Liu and coworkers that was featured on the cover of Science for April 15, 2011.