Nathan Wright

Profile

Project Title: 

Cyanobacterial biofilms for photoelectrochemistry

Summary:

The transition to net-zero carbon emissions is hindered by the reliance of conventional renewable technologies such as wind and solar on expensive, relatively rare, hazardous, and geopolitically problematic metals such as lithium, cobalt, and vanadium. Efficient photosynthesisers, cyanobacteria, can act as photocatalysts in both photoanodic and photocathodic setups to directly produce work in the form of solar energy to power small electrical devices or catalyse important reactions such as the oxygen reduction reaction on cheap, earth-abundant and safe electrode materials.

Current research suggests biophotovoltaic efficiency is largely hindered due to poor interfacial contact between the cells and the electrode. For my Ph.D project I aim to investigate the relationship between photocurrent output, electrode architecture and metabolic state by using novel conductive, transparent silica hydrogel electrodes. 

Supervisor:

• Prof Conrad Mullineaux

Research