Paving the Way for Hydrogen from Algae Enzymes

A research team has identified a crucial detail that’s essential for the production of hydrogen using biocatalysts

05-Jun-2024 - Under certain conditions, some algae are able to produce hydrogen – a much sought-after green energy source. Its production takes place in the unique catalytic center of the unicellular algae and is only possible if certain cofactors of the relevant proteins are present. Researchers at Ruhr ...

Releasing Brakes on Biocatalysis

The new findings could play a role in H2 technologies

01-Dec-2023 - Formaldehyde can inhibit enzymes that produce hydrogen particularly efficiently. Researchers from Bochum have discovered how this can be prevented. Enzymes from microorganisms can produce hydrogen (H2) under certain conditions, which makes them potential biocatalysts for biobased H2 technologies. ...

Protecting biocatalysts from oxygen

A genetic modification can make hydrogen-producing enzymes more stable

13-Jan-2023 - Certain enzymes from bacteria and algae can produce molecular hydrogen from protons and electrons – an energy carrier on which many hopes are riding. All they need for this purpose is light energy. The major obstacle to their use is that they are destroyed by contact with oxygen. An ...

A poison helps to understand H2-producing biocatalysts

The toxic cyanide molecule attacks H2-generating enzymes, but at the same time provides new insights into catalysis

20-Dec-2022 - In nature, enzymes termed hydrogenases are capable of producing molecular hydrogen (H2). Special types of these biocatalysts, so-called [FeFe]-hydrogenases, are extremely efficient and therefore of interest for biobased hydrogen production. Although scientists have learned a lot about how these ...

Hydrogen-producing enzyme protects itself against oxygen

The discovery may make it possible to use oxygen-stable enzymes as hydrogen producers

04-Feb-2021 - An international research team from the Photobiotechnology Research Group at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) led by Professor Thomas Happe and the Laboratoire de Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines (CNRS) in Marseille has been able to get to the bottom of this unique feature. They describe ...

Making enzymes fit for industrial applications

Biobased process for ammonia production

27-Aug-2020 - Bacterial enzymes are often powerful but also very sensitive catalysts. To call up their performance, they therefore need a special environment. Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have developed new techniques for efficiently coupling bacterial enzymes to electrodes. Together with a ...

New kind of interaction discovered in hydrogen-producing enzymes

The findings should help to develop more efficient miniaturised hydrogenase catalysts in the future

18-Aug-2020 - In hydrogenase enzymes, the transports of protons and electrons have been considered to be separate events until now. However, coupling is the key to success here. Hydrogenases can convert hydrogen just as efficiently as expensive platinum catalysts. In order to make them usable for ...

How oxygen destroys the core of important enzymes

06-Nov-2019 - New findings are expected to help protect the hydrogen-producing enzymes from harmful oxygen – which is interesting for biotechnological applications. Certain enzymes, such as hydrogen-producing hydrogenases, are unstable in the presence of oxygen. Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) ...

How to make biocatalysts immortal

10-Oct-2019 - Oxygen threatens sustainable catalysts that use hydrogen to produce electricity in fuel cells. Researchers from Bochum and Marseille have developed a way to combat this. Efficient catalysts for converting hydrogen into electricity in fuel cells for the energy transition are often based on ...

Chemist integrates plant enzymes into sensors and fuel cells

Award for Nicolas Plumeré

25-Jun-2019 - Bochum-based chemist Professor Nicolas Plumeré has been awarded the Luigi Galvani Prize by the Bioelectrochemical Society. The prize is awarded every two years to a researcher who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of bioelectrochemistry. Plumeré has successfully optimised ...