| Description |
Global energy requirements are increasing with time. While fossil fuels can be relied upon for several more centuries, they would produce vast amounts of carbon dioxide. This undesirable fact makes renewable options like bio-solar cells, which are clean, inexpensive, and take advantage of abundant solar energy, a tempting prospect. However, bio-solar cells often have very short lifetimes due to reactive oxygen products that build up during photosynthesis, as well as low efficiencies when compared with inorganic solar cell options. Past research using the enzyme reactive oxygen scavenger catalase to reduce the quantity of oxygen byproducts has had advantageous effects on bio-solar cell lifetimes, leading to interest in other types of reactive oxygen scavengers. Additionally, studies into using redox polymer matrices as immobilization or mediation for biocatalysts have reportedly increased lifetime and efficiency of bio-electrodes, respectively. For both thylakoid biocatalyst bio-anodes and photosystem I biocatalyst bio-cathodes, two reactive oxygen scavengers, ascorbic acid and activated carbon, were tested to compare their abilities at extending solar cell lifetimes with those of catalase, and two redox polymers, naphthoquinone and dimethyl ferrocene modified linear polyethyleneimines (NQ-LPEI and Fc-LPEI, respectively), were investigated to determine their abilities at both stabilizing biocatalysts through immobilization and improving electron transfer efficiency through mediation. Amperometric testing was used to reveal which combination of biocatalyst, reactive oxygen scavenger, and redox polymer created the most advantageous increases in the lifetimes and electron transfer efficiencies of bio-solar cell electrodes. While photocurrents produced were lower than for systems using expensive and toxic osmium redox polymers, it was shown that unmodified thylakoid bio-anodes made using 1 mM of ascorbic acid could last up to 148% of the lifetime of plain thylakoid electrodes and produce a photocurrent 1103% of these unmodified thylakoid electrodes when immobilized by NQ-LPEI and supplemented with 1 mM ascorbic acid. Photosystem I bio-cathodes modified with Fc-LPEI and supplemented with catalase control enzyme maintained the highest current and lifetime found for any combination of electrode, with a lifetime 264% and a photocurrent 1375% of the values for the original, comparison standard of the unmodified, blank thylakoid electrodes. |
