Enhanced Light‐Driven Hydrogen Production by Self‐Photosensitized Biohybrid Systems

Storage of solar energy as hydrogen provides a platform towards decarbonizing our economy. One emerging strategy for the production of solar fuels is to use photocatalytic biohybrid systems that combine the high catalytic activity of non‐photosynthetic microorganisms with the high light‐harvesting efficiency of metal semiconductor nanoparticles. However, few such systems have been tested for H2 production. We investigated light‐driven H2 production by three novel organisms, Desulfovibrio desulfuricans, Citrobacter freundii, and Shewanella oneidensis, self‐photosensitized with cadmium sulfide nanoparticles, and compared their performance to Escherichia coli. All biohybrid systems produced H2 from light, with D. desulfuricans‐CdS demonstrating the best activity overall and outperforming the other microbial systems even in the absence of a mediator. With this system, H2 was continuously produced for more than 10 days with a specific rate of 36 μmol gdcw−1 h−1. High apparent quantum yields of 23 % and 4 % were obtained, with and without methyl viologen, respectively, exceeding values previously reported. Novel biohybrid systems are created for light‐driven H2 production by using non‐photosynthetic microorganisms self‐photosensitized with CdS nanoparticles. An outstanding biohybrid system using D. desulfuricans displays high H2 production activity, high stability and a remarkable solar efficiency.