Making Hydrogen

Interestingly, we came upon this journal article in which hydrogen production using transition metal catalysts was explored. A group of scientists in Illinois combined what us BCA kids learned in biology, with some transition metal catalysis to develop a process of making hydrogen from water. They used a Photosystem 1 Protein with a Cobalt catalyst to make a complex that produced hydrogen in an aqueous solution when exposed to visible light. As we all should know from biology, cough cough, Photosystem 1 is an integral part of photosynthesis, particularly in the light sensitive reactions that make NADPH and ATP. It turns out that a Photosystem 1 protein self-assembles with Co(dmgH)2pyCl, a well known hydrogen electrocatalyst, to make a useful complex. The two work together to make hydrogen; the Photosystem 1 protein gives two photo-generated electrons to the attached catalyst, which then uses the electrons to make a hydrogen molecule. Here is a picture that summarizes the findings of the group of scientists.

 

Figure A is the catalyst that I just told you about. Figure B is a picture of the hydrogen bubbling out of solution.  The graph shows mols of hydrogen/mols of photosystem 1 protein over time. The data seems to show a that hydrogen production slows down over time.
This article seems to be shouting for a parallel to subjects of biology and chemistry as a whole. If biology and chemistry can work together so well on a molecular scale, why can't they work together on a larger scale? The above article is a clear supporter of the notion that all fields of science require the help of each other and one field does not completely cover another.