Editor's Summary
10 February 2005
Fuel cells: iron is the new platinum
In conventional hydrogen fuel cells the rapid interconversion of protons and electrons to hydrogen requires catalysis by expensive metals, usually platinum. In the living world enzymes catalyse this same reaction at extraordinary rates using abundant metals. Tard et al. now report the chemical synthesis of the iron–sulphur structure at the heart of the hydrogenase protein. The resulting iron–sulphur framework functions as an electrocatalyst for proton reduction, a potentially important step towards new materials to replace platinum in the anodes of fuel cells.
News and Views: Synthetic chemistry: Making a natural fuel cell
The synthetic assembly of the active centre of hydrogen-producing enzymes adds to our understanding of their structure and function — and could produce new and useful materials that mimic these enzymes.
Marcetta York Darensbourg
doi:10.1038/433589a
Letter: Synthesis of the H-cluster framework of iron-only hydrogenase
Cédric Tard, Xiaoming Liu, Saad K. Ibrahim, Maurizio Bruschi, Luca De Gioia, Siân C. Davies, Xin Yang, Lai-Sheng Wang, Gary Sawers and Christopher J. Pickett
doi:10.1038/nature03298
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (254K) | Supplementary information