Artificial Photosynthetic Cell with Molecular Biomimetic Thylakoid

The construction of solar-to-chemical conversion system by mimicking the photosynthetic network of the chloroplast holds great promise on efficient solar energy utilization. We developed an artificial photosynthetic cell (APC) based on molecular biomimetic thylakoid (CoTPP-FePy) to split water into hydrogen and oxygen (H₂ and O₂) at low driving voltage (1.1 V) and neutral condition (pH≈7). The CoTPP-FePy can emulate the light reaction in thylakoids to produce O₂ by coupling light harvesting, photocatalysis, and electron/energy storage (Fe^III/Fe^II-Py). Subsequently, a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) were employed to simulate the dark reaction, wherein the proton, electron and energy generated by the light reaction can drive the H₂ producing process. By a temporally and spatially coupling of the light and dark reactions, the resulting APC achieved a solar conversion efficiency of 3.1 %, exceeding that of natural photosynthetic systems and demonstrating the potential of artificial photosynthesis.