Titania photoanode prepared by chloroplast biotemplate for photoelectrochemical biofuel cell

Chloroplast was used as a biotemplate to synthesize titania (TiO 2 ) replica which was investigated as a semiconductor to construct a photoelectrochemical biofuel cell (PEBFC). The cylindrical stack structure of granum in chloroplast was retained in TiO 2 replica by ultrasonication (sonicated-TiO 2 ), while the chloroplast structure was retained for the prepared TiO 2 replica under the same condition without ultrasonication (unsonicated-TiO 2 ). The sonicated-TiO 2 exhibited a much greater specific surface area (up to 47.8 m 2 /g) than the unsonicated-TiO 2 (26.5 m 2 /g), which resulted in the sonicated-TiO 2 having a better performance than the unsonicated-TiO 2 .