Biohydrogen Production from Sucrose Using the Light-Harvesting Function of Zinc Chlorophyll-a

A biohydrogen production system, has been developed that couples sucrose hydrolysis by invertase and glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) and hydrogen production with a platinum colloid as a catalyst. The system uses the visible light-harvesting function of artificial Zn chlorophyll-a (Zn Chl-a), prepared from Mg Chl-a (obtained from Spilurina). When a sample solution containing sucrose, invertase, nicotinamide adenine dinucreotide (NAD+), Zn Chl-a, methylviologen (MV2+, an electron carrier), and platinum colloid was irradiated, continuous hydrogen production was observed with the irradiation time. The amount of hydrogen production was about 10.5 μmol after 4 h of irradiation under the optimum condition.