New reagents help with enzyme-catalyzed electrolysis of water to make hydrogen

The French National Research Center recently issued a communique saying that a research group involved in the center has invented a new reagent that can activate an enzyme in a microorganism in a test tube. This enzyme can catalyze the hydrogen production process of electrolyzed water and reduce hydrogen production from electrolyzed water. cost.

This reagent consists of a bionic compound and protein similar to the active center of hydrogenase, which can react with inactive hydrogenase and transfer its biomimetic moiety to hydrogenase to activate the catalytic action of hydrogenase.

The researchers believe that the results will help to explore the biological diversity of hydrogenases by synthesizing different hydrogenase activity center analogues to activate more types of enzymes, thereby finding a most efficient and stable enzyme that can be used As a catalyst for hydrogen production from electrolyzed water.

Hydrogen is a clean, renewable energy source that can be made from electrolyzed water. However, hydrogen production from electrolyzed water requires the use of rare metals such as platinum as the catalyst. The scarcity of this noble metal restricts the long-term development of hydrogen production from electrolyzed water and keeps its cost high. In the biosphere, microorganisms such as microalgae can use the hydrogenase enzyme made of iron and other common metal ions as catalysts to provide energy for their own metabolism by electrolysis of water. This catalytic hydrogenase is considered a natural alternative to platinum and other precious metal catalysts. (Reporter Huang Han)