Nanozyme-enhanced glucose/O2 bio-photoelectrochemical system: Taking the challenge of earth diurnal variation

Abstract

Achieving efficient and reasonable renewable energy utilization is crucial for sustainable socio-economy development. Herein, an ingenious glucose/O2 bio-photoelectrochemical system (BPECS) is developed to enhance glucose metabolism process for high-efficiency biofuels utilization. Capturing the intermittent nature of sunlight, glucose metabolism is divided into two-step reasonably. Under dark condition, bio-metabolism catalyzed by glucose oxidase (GOD), is conducted firstly to enrich gluconic acid and H2O2. Benefiting from specific electrocatalytic selectivity of BiVO4 photoanode and hemin cathode towards gluconic acid oxidation and H2O2 reduction, respectively, electro-matabolism occurs subsequently under light illumination. Moreover, profiting from prominently catalytic stability, a nanozyme-enhanced BPECS is constructed for the first time by integrating GOD-like Au nanoparticles, and a maximum power density of 139.17 μW cm−2 with open-circuit voltage of 0.62 V, is obtained. Such a BPECS provides a guiding significance for exploration of renewable energy sources and opens up a new path to expand nanozymes in extensive research fields.