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Prolonged and highly efficient intracellular extraction of photosynthetic electrons from single algal cells by optimized nanoelectrode insertion

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Abstract

Harvesting photosynthetic electrons (PEs) from plant or algal cells can be a highly efficient and environmentally friendly way of generating renewable energy. Recent work on nanoelectrode insertion into algal cells has demonstrated the possibility to directly extract PEs from living algal cells with high efficiencies. However, the instability of the inserted cells limits the practicality of this technology. Here, the impact of nanoelectrode insertion on intracellular extraction of PEs is characterized with the goal of stabilizing algal cells after nanoelectrode insertion. Using nanoelectrodes <500 nm in diameter, algal cells remained stable for over one week after insertion and continued to provide PEs through direct extraction by the inserted nanoelectrodes. After nanoelectrode insertion, a photosynthetic current density of 6 mA·cm−2, which is several fold higher than the current densities attained using approaches based on isolated thylakoid membranes or photosystem I complexes, was observed in the dark and during illumination at various light intensities.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the financial supports by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) of Korea government (No. 2011-0020285) as well as by the Center for Advanced Meta-Materials (CAMM) funded by the MSIP as Global Frontier Project (No. CAMM-2014M3A6B3063716). The authors thank Jae Hyung Yun at Yonsei University for the help with fabrication of glass micropipettes. The contribution of A. R. G. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (No. DE–SC0001060) and the National Science Foundation (No. MCB–0951094)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea

    Hyeonaug Hong, Yong Jae Kim & WonHyoung Ryu

  2. Yonsei Institute of Convergence Technology and school of Integrated Technology, Yonsei University, Incheon, 21983, Republic of Korea

    Myungjin Han

  3. Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea

    Gu Yoo, Hyun Woo Song & Jae-Chul Pyun

  4. Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea

    Youngcheol Chae

  5. Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Arthur R. Grossman

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  1. Hyeonaug Hong
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Correspondence to WonHyoung Ryu.

Additional information

Electronic Supplementary Material: Supplementary material (configuration of horizontally-tilted cantilever nanoelectrode system and the estimation of activated area of electrode) is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1642-z.

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12274_2017_1642_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Prolonged and highly efficient intracellular extraction of photosynthetic electrons from single algal cells by optimized nanoelectrode insertion

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Hong, H., Kim, Y.J., Han, M. et al. Prolonged and highly efficient intracellular extraction of photosynthetic electrons from single algal cells by optimized nanoelectrode insertion. Nano Res. 11, 397–409 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1642-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1642-z

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