Biohybrid molecule uses light-driven electrons to efficiently produce hydrogen

Natural hydrogen-producing enzymes are large and extremely sensitive to oxygen. This makes it difficult to use them for the applied production of green hydrogen. Researchers from the Photobiotechnology group at Ruhr University Bochum and partners at the University of Potsdam, Germany, have found a way to bypass this problem: They transferred the iron-containing catalytic center of one such enzyme—[FeFe]-hydrogenase—into a ferredoxin.