Abstract
Motivated by previous experiences in identifying active reaction zones on plant pheophytins of the so-called semi-derivative morphology, for the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen gas, this current research aimed for similarly suggestive sites within DNA base pairs which exist in all living matters. Verified by the 1st-principle quantum mechanical simulations and subsequent wet and dry hydrogen fuel cell experiments, the feasibility of room-temperature DNA-catalyzed hydrogen oxidation reaction was unambiguously established. This implies that very low-cost DNA-catalyzed fuel cells, which contain no expensive, CO-sensitive platinum on the negative electrode side, can be put to work under room condition and thus might be practically available in every household in the very near future.
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A quantum mechanical simulation code of Accelry’s Material Studio to simulate physical, chemical, and optical properties of molecules and compounds based on the density functional theory (DFT). In it, generalized gradient approximation (GGA) PW91 scheme for exchange correlation, and numerical atomic orbital DND basis set, self-consistent field (SCF) tolerance of 1 × 10−5 eV were employed. During the geometry optimization for minimum Hamiltonian calculations, the approach of Partial Structural Constraint Path Minimization (PSCPM) was adopted.
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The authors acknowledge the full financial support of ARBL for this research work.
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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Photonic Science and Engineering on the Micro/Nano Scale.
Guest Edited by Yen-Hsun Su, Lei Liu, Yiting Yu and Yikun Liu.
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Lai, WB., Huang, JL., Liao, C. et al. Room-temperature DNA-catalyzed hydrogen fuel cell. Opt Quant Electron 48, 486 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-016-0749-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-016-0749-x