Biohydrogen production from sucrose using the visible light sensitization of artificial Zn chlorophyll-a.

A photoinduced hydrogen production system that couples sucrose degradation with invertase and glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) and hydrogen production with colloidal platinum as a catalyst using visible light-induced photosensitization of artificial Zn chlorophyll-a (Zn Chl-a) has been developed. Continuous hydrogen gas production over more than 240 min was observed when the reaction mixture containing sucrose, invertase, GDH, nicotinamide adenine dinucreotide (NAD(+)), Zn Chl-a, methyl viologen (MV(2+), an electron relay reagent), and colloidal platinum was irradiated by visible light. Zn Chl-a was superior to that of Mg Chl-a in photostability and photosensitization activity.