Biophotovoltaics (BPVs) use oxygenic photoautotrophic oganisms like cyanobacteria or algae as biocastalyst to convert sunlight and water into electricity. This happens via photosynthesis generating electrons as a byproduct. These electrons can exit the cells and be collected at the anode (electrode interfaced with biocatalyst). BPVs generally use Indium tin oxide (ITO) as their anode material. This however provides problems since ITO is a rare earth metal that is expensive to produce and difficult to recycle. In this consortium project Photo-e-mat funded by research in Research council of Finland, we aim to replace ITO electrodes with organic conducting polymers (CPs). CPs as materials are highly conductive, flexible and transparent as well as biocompatible which makes them promising candidates for BPV applications.
CPs can be polymerized in multiple ways, but in our project, we use layer by layer vapor phase polymerization (VPP) in atmospheric pressure. Our patented method allows us to coat nonconductive surfaces and achieve flexible and almost transparent polymer films.
Research groups working in Photo-e-mat -project in addition to MCRG from University of Turku (UTU) are Photosynthetic Microbes from UTU and Laboratory of Natural Materials Technology from Åbo Akademi University.
