Pioneering Graphene–TPS Nanofiber Photoanodes for Advanced Living Biophotovoltaics Enabling Solar‐to‐Hydrogen Conversion
Abstract
Living biophotovoltaics (LBPVs) remain limited by the lack of biodegradable, highly conductive scaffolds capable of supporting dense microbial colonization and efficient electron extraction. In this study, graphene–thermoplastic starch (Gr–TPS) electrospun nanofibers are introduced for the first time as photoanode materials, establishing a renewable platform that integrates carbon nanotechnology with biopolymer engineering. The Gr–TPS network exhibits high porosity, hydrophilicity, and electrical percolation, enabling strong cyanobacterial attachment and enhanced extracellular electron transfer. When incorporated into an LBPV configuration, this architecture simultaneously captures photosynthetic and respiratory electron flows, yielding high photocurrent, a power density of 63.10 mW m −2 , and excellent operational stability. Diuron, glucose, and iodoacetate assays confirm tunable dual‐pathway electron harvesting, resulting in 372 μmol L −1 photosynthetic hydrogen and 11.37 μmol L −1 respiration‐derived hydrogen. These findings demonstrate that Gr–TPS nanofibers constitute a biodegradable, cost‐effective, and performance‐enhancing material class with significant potential to advance next‐generation solar‐to‐fuel biophotonic technologies.