Mn-based water oxidation catalyst as a functional model for the photosystem II

• Main Author: Pan, Ming
• Other Authors: Chen Hongyu
• Format: Student Research Poster
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/95502; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/9090
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Photosynthesis is one of the most important biochemical processes in nature. A key step for photosynthesis is the oxidation of water to oxygen catalyzed by a manganese tetramer, which is an essential co-factor in the enzyme Photosystem II (PS II). 1,2 Understanding the mechanism for this step is essential for the future development of solar energy utilization. Several catalytic models (mainly manganese terpyridine complexes (Mn-terpy) for the water oxidation process have been established so far including homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic models.3,4 However, they showed limited catalytic activity and poor reproducibility, which creates barriers to further study of PS II. In our group, we integrate nanotechnology into this bioinorganic modeling study. It creates a semi-homogeneous catalytic system, preventing inter-catalyst interaction which is believed to be an important cause for the failure of the previous models. It is a good attempt to the birth of a new generation of water oxidation catalyst, with higher catalytic activity as well as better reproducibility. [2nd Award]