Is Photosystem II the only known protein complex that can split water?

Question

Is Photosystem II the only known protein complex that can split water?

Answer 1

"The Imperial College in London is reporting that genetically-engineered blood protein can be used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The abstract can be viewed for free from the Journal of the American Chemical Society."

From the article:

"Scientists have combined two molecules that occur naturally in blood to engineer a molecular complex that uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This molecular complex can use energy from the sun to create hydrogen gas, providing an alternative to electrolysis, the method typically used to split water into its constituent parts. The breakthrough may pave the way for the development of novel ways of creating hydrogen gas for use as fuel in the future."

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?n...

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/12/...

Answer 2

its called photolysis and no.

The concept of the "hydrogen economy" was quite popular until people started to ask where all that hydrogen would come from. One possible path is using bacteria, another is solar energy: Penn State researchers have announced a proof-of-concept device that can split water and produce recoverable hydrogen. So far, it's quite inefficient. "But ultimately, catalytic systems with 10 to 15 percent solar conversion efficiency might be achievable," said Thomas E. Mallouk, Professor of Materials Chemistry and Physics. "If this could be realized, water photolysis would provide a clean source of hydrogen fuel from water and sunlight."

The catalyst system, combined with a dye, can mimic the electron transfer and water oxidation processes that occur in plants during photosynthesis, but if 10 to 15% efficiency could be achieved, this would be much higher than what nature can do.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/...