TY  - JOUR
A1  - Krüger, Stefanie
A1  - Schwarze, Michael
A1  - Baumann, Otto
A1  - Günter, Christina
A1  - Bruns, Michael
A1  - Kübel, Christian
A1  - Szabo, Dorothee Vinga
A1  - Meinusch, Rafael
A1  - Bermudez, Veronica de Zea
A1  - Taubert, Andreas
T1  - Bombyx mori silk/titania/gold hybrid materials for photocatalytic water splitting
BT  - combining renewable raw materials with clean fuels
JF  - Beilstein journal of nanotechnology
N2  - The synthesis, structure, and photocatalytic water splitting performance of two new titania (TiO2)/gold(Au)/Bombyx mori silk hybrid materials are reported. All materials are monoliths with diameters of up to ca. 4.5 cm. The materials are macroscopically homogeneous and porous with surface areas between 170 and 210 m(2)/g. The diameter of the TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) - mainly anatase with a minor fraction of brookite - and the Au NPs are on the order of 5 and 7-18 nm, respectively. Addition of poly(ethylene oxide) to the reaction mixture enables pore size tuning, thus providing access to different materials with different photocatalytic activities. Water splitting experiments using a sunlight simulator and a Xe lamp show that the new hybrid materials are effective water splitting catalysts and produce up to 30 mmol of hydrogen per 24 h. Overall the article demonstrates that the combination of a renewable and robust scaffold such as B. mori silk with a photoactive material provides a promising approach to new monolithic photocatalysts that can easily be recycled and show great potential for application in lightweight devices for green fuel production.
KW  - Bombyx mori silk
KW  - gold
KW  - photocatalytic water splitting
KW  - titania
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.9.21
SN  - 2190-4286
VL  - 9
SP  - 187
EP  - 204
PB  - Beilstein-Institut zur Förderung der Chemischen Wissenschaften
CY  - Frankfurt, Main
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Herold, Heike M.
A1  - Aigner, Tamara Bernadette
A1  - Grill, Carolin E.
A1  - Krüger, Stefanie
A1  - Taubert, Andreas
A1  - Scheibel, Thomas R.
T1  - SpiderMAEn
BT  - recombinant spider silk-based hybrid materials for advanced energy technology
JF  - Bioinspired, Biomimetic and Nanobiomaterials
N2  - A growing energy demand requires new and preferably renewable energy sources. The infinite availability of solar radiation makes its conversion into storable and transportable energy forms attractive for research as well as for the industry. One promising example of a transportable fuel is hydrogen (H-2), making research into eco-friendly hydrogen production meaningful. Here, a hybrid system was developed using newly designed recombinant spider silk protein variants as a template for mineralization with inorganic titanium dioxide and gold. These bioinspired organic/inorganic hybrid materials allow for hydrogen production upon light irradiation. To begin with, recombinant spider silk proteins bearing titanium dioxide and gold-binding moieties were created and processed into structured films. These films were modified with gold and titanium dioxide in order to produce a photocatalyst. Subsequent testing revealed hydrogen production as a result of light-induced hydrolysis of water. Therefore, the novel setup presented here provides access to a new principle of generating advanced hybrid materials for sustainable hydrogen production and depicts a promising platform for further studies on photocatalytic production of hydrogen, the most promising future fuel.
KW  - hybrid materials
KW  - hydrogen
KW  - photocatalysts
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1680/jbibn.18.00007
SN  - 2045-9858
SN  - 2045-9866
VL  - 8
IS  - 1
SP  - 99
EP  - 108
PB  - ICE Publishing
CY  - Westminister
ER  -