Herein, we communicate about an Earth-abundant semiconductor photocathode (p-Si/TiO₂/NiO_x) as an alternative for the rare and expensive Pt as a counter electrode for overall photoelectrochemical water splitting. The proposed photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting device mimics the "Z"-scheme observed in natural photosynthesis by combining two photoelectrodes in a parallelillumination mode. A nearly 60% increase in the photocurrent density (J_ph) for pristine α-Fe₂O₃ and a 77% increase in the applied bias photocurrent efficiency (ABPE) were achieved by replacing the conventionally used Pt cathode with an efficient, cost effective p-Si/TiO₂/NiO_x photocathode under parallel illumination. The resulting photocurrent density of 1.26 mA cm⁻² at 1.23V_RHE represents a new record performance for hydrothermally grown pristine α-Fe₂O₃ nanorod photoanodes in combination with a photocathode, which opens the prospect for further improvement by doping α-Fe₂O₃ or by its decoration with co-catalysts. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements suggest that this significant performance increase is due to the enhancement of the space-charge field in α-Fe₂O_3. 

High solar flux is known to diminish photosynthetic growth rates, reducing biomass productivity and lowering disease tolerance. Photosystem II (PSII) of plants is susceptible to photodamage (also known as photoinactivation) in strong light, resulting in severe loss of water oxidation capacity and destruction of the water‐oxidizing complex (WOC). The repair of damaged PSIIs comes at a high energy cost and requires de novo biosynthesis of damaged PSII subunits, reassembly of the WOC inorganic cofactors and membrane remodeling. Employing membrane‐inlet mass spectrometry and O2‐polarography under flashing light conditions, we demonstrate that newly synthesized PSII complexes are far more susceptible to photodamage than are mature PSII complexes. We examined these ‘PSII birth defects’ in barley seedlings and plastids (etiochloroplasts and chloroplasts) isolated at various times during de‐etiolation as chloroplast development begins and matures in synchronization with thylakoid membrane biogenesis and grana membrane formation. We show that the degree of PSII photodamage decreases simultaneously with biogenesis of the PSII turnover efficiency measured by O2‐polarography, and with grana membrane stacking, as determined by electron microscopy. Our data from fluorescence, QB‐inhibitor binding, and thermoluminescence studies indicate that the decline of the high‐light susceptibility of PSII to photodamage is coincident with appearance of electron transfer capability QA− → QB during de‐etiolation. This rate depends in turn on the downstream clearing of electrons upon buildup of the complete linear electron transfer chain and the formation of stacked grana membranes capable of longer‐range energy transfer.

Earth-abundant cobalt-doped hematite thin-film electrocatalysts were explored for acidic water oxidation. The strategically doped hematite produced a stable geometric current density of 10 mA cm(-2) for up to 50 h at pH 0.3, as a result of Co-enhanced intrinsic catalytic activity and charge transport properties across the film matrix.

In nature, an oxo‐bridged Mn4CaO5 cluster embedded in photosystem II (PSII), a membrane‐bound multi‐subunit pigment protein complex, catalyzes the water oxidation reaction that is driven by light‐induced charge separations in the reaction center of PSII. The Mn4CaO5 cluster accumulates four oxidizing equivalents to enable the four‐electron four‐proton catalysis of two water molecules to one dioxygen molecule and cycles through five intermediate S‐states, S0 – S4 in the Kok cycle. One important question related to the catalytic mechanism of the oxygen‐evolving complex (OEC) that remains is, whether structural isomers are present in some of the intermediate S‐states and if such equilibria are essential for the mechanism of the O‐O bond formation. Here we compare results from electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) obtained at cryogenic temperatures for the S2state of PSII with structural data collected of the S1, S2 and S3 states by serial crystallography at neutral pH (∼6.5) using an X‐ray free electron laser at room temperature. While the cryogenic data show the presence of at least two structural forms of the S2 state, the room temperature crystallography data can be well‐described by just one S2 structure. We discuss the deviating results and outline experimental strategies for clarifying this mechanistically important question.

With this Tribute, we remember and honor Thomas John (Tom) Wydrzynski. Tom was a highly innovative, independent and committed researcher, who had, early in his career, defined his life-long research goal. He was committed to understand how Photosystem II produces molecular oxygen from water, using the energy of sunlight, and to apply this knowledge towards making artificial systems. In this tribute, we summarize his research journey, which involved working on soft money' in several laboratories around the world for many years, as well as his research achievements. We also reflect upon his approach to life, science and student supervision, as we perceive it. Tom was not only a thoughtful scientist that inspired many to enter this field of research, but also a wonderful supervisor and friend, who is deeply missed (see footnote*).

Photosynthetic water oxidation is catalyzed by the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) in photosystem II (PSII). This process is energetically driven by light-induced charge separation in the reaction center of PSII, which leads to a stepwise accumulation of oxidizing equivalents in the OEC (S-i states, i=0-4) resulting in O-2 evolution after each fourth flash, and to the reduction of plastoquinone to plastoquinol on the acceptor side of PSII. However, the S-i-state advancement is not perfect, which according to the Kok model is described by miss-hits (misses). These may be caused by redox equilibria or kinetic limitations on the donor (OEC) or the acceptor side. In this study, we investigate the effects of individual S state transitions and of the quinone acceptor side on the miss parameter by analyzing the flash-induced oxygen evolution patterns and the S-2, S-3 and S-0 state lifetimes in thylakoid samples of the extremophilic red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae. The data are analyzed employing a global fit analysis and the results are compared to the data obtained previously for spinach thylakoids. These two organisms were selected, because the redox potential of Q(A)/Q(A)(-) in PSII is significantly less negative in C. merolae (E-m=-104mV) than in spinach (E-m=-163mV). This significant difference in redox potential was expected to allow the disentanglement of acceptor and donor side effects on the miss parameter. Our data indicate that, at slightly acidic and neutral pH values, the E-m of Q(A)(-)/Q(A) plays only a minor role for the miss parameter. By contrast, the increased energy gap for the backward electron transfer from Q(A)(-) to Pheo slows down the charge recombination reaction with the S-3 and S-2 states considerably. In addition, our data support the concept that the S-2 S-3 transition is the least efficient step during the oxidation of water to molecular oxygen in the Kok cycle of PSII.

Stable and efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts for the oxidation of water to dioxygen in highly acidic media are currently limited to expensive noble metal (Ir and Ru) oxides since presently known OER catalysts made of inexpensive earth-abundant materials generally suffer anodic corrosion at low pH. In this study, we report that a mixed-polymorph film comprising maghemite and hematite, prepared using spray pyrolysis deposition followed by low-temperature annealing, showed a sustained OER rate (>24 h) corresponding to a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at an initial overpotential of 650 mV, with a Tafel slope of only 56 mV dec−1 and near-100% Faradaic efficiency in 0.5 M H2SO4 (pH 0.3). This performance is remarkable, since iron (III) oxide films comprising only maghemite were found to exhibit a comparable intrinsic activity, but considerably lower stability for OER, while films of pure hematite were OER-inactive. These results are explained by the differences in the polymorph crystal structures, which cause different electrical conductivity and surface interactions with water molecules and protons. Our findings not only reveal the potential of iron (III) oxide as acid-stable OER catalyst, but also highlight the important yet hitherto largely unexplored effect of crystal polymorphism on electrocatalytic OER performance.

Solar fuels such as H2 generated from sunlight and seawater using earth-abundant materials are expected to be a crucial component of a next generation renewable energy mix. We herein report a systematic analysis of the photo-electrochemical performance of TiO2 coated, microstructured p-Si photoelectrodes (p-Si/TiO2) that were functionalized with CoOx and NiOx for H2 generation. These photocathodes were synthesized from commercial p-Si wafers employing wet chemical methods. In neutral phosphate buffer and standard 1 sun illumination, the p-Si/TiO2/NiOx photoelectrode showed a photocurrent density of 1.48 mA cm2 at zero bias (0 VRHE), which was three times and 15 times better than the photocurrent densities of p-Si/TiO2/CoOx and p-Si/TiO2, respectively. No decline in activity was observed over a five hour test period, yielding a Faradaic efficiency of 96% for H2 production. Based on the electrochemical characterizations and the high energy resolution fluorescence detected X-ray absorption near edge structure (HERFD-XANES) and emission spectroscopy measurements performed at the Ti Ka1 fluorescence line, the superior performance of the p-Si/TiO2/ NiOx photoelectrode was attributed to improved charge transfer properties induced by the NiOx coating on the protective TiO2 layer, in combination with a higher catalytic activity of NiOx for H2-evolution. Moreover, we report here an excellent photo-electrochemical performance of p-Si/TiO2/NiOx photoelectrode in corrosive artificial seawater (pH 8.4) with an unprecedented photocurrent density of 10 mA cm2 at an applied potential of 0.7 VRHE, and of 20 mA cm2 at 0.9 VRHE. The applied bias photon-to-current conversion efficiency (ABPE) at 0.7 VRHE and 10 mA cm2 was found to be 5.1%

In this study, we presented a new approach for quantification of bicarbonate (HCO3-) molecules bound to PSII. Our method, which is based on a combination of membrane-inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) and O-18-labelling, excludes the possibility of "non-accounted" HCO3- by avoiding (1) the employment of formate for removal of HCO3- from PSII, and (2) the extremely low concentrations of HCO3-/CO2 during online MIMS measurements. By equilibration of PSII sample to ambient CO2 concentration of dissolved CO2/HCO3-, the method ensures that all physiological binding sites are saturated before analysis. With this approach, we determined that in spinach PSII membrane fragments 1.1 +/- 0.1 HCO3- are bound per PSII reaction center, while none was bound to isolated PsbO protein. Our present results confirmed that PSII binds one HCO3- molecule as ligand to the non-heme iron of PSII, while unbound HCO3- optimizes the water-splitting reactions by acting as a mobile proton shuttle.