About

Gary Brudvig is the Benjamin Silliman Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University. He has been a member of the Yale faculty since 1982. His research focuses on biophysical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and materials chemistry, with a particular emphasis on understanding how nature efficiently performs light-driven, four-electron oxidation of water to oxygen. Brudvig's work employs spectroscopic, biophysical, and molecular biological methods to investigate the structure and function of redox centers, the kinetics and yields of electron-transfer reactions, and the chemistry of water oxidation in photosystem II. His research aims to inform the design of artificial systems for solar energy conversion, including the development of water-oxidation catalysts and bioinspired processes for solar fuel production. Brudvig has made significant contributions to the understanding of photosystem II and has collaborated on developing inorganic model complexes of the manganese active site, leading to the creation of the first homogeneous oxomanganese water-oxidation catalyst. Recognized for his contributions to science, he has received numerous honors, including election as a Fellow of the AAAS and membership in the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. He is also a recipient of the Graduate Mentor Award in the Natural Sciences and has been featured in various news outlets for his work in solar energy and photosynthesis.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Materials science
• Biology
• Engineering
• Biophysics
• Photochemistry
• Environmental science
• Metallurgy
• Waste management
• Environmental engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Chemical engineering
• Physics

Selected publications

• Two Artificial Leaf Architectures for Solar Formate Production From CO ₂ and H ₂ O

  Angewandte Chemie International Edition · 2026-05-19

  article

  ABSTRACT Sunlight‐powered artificial leaves for the production of formate from CO 2 are an attractive route to solar fuels, yet existing solar formate devices remain low in performance, and their architecture and material choices are underexplored. Herein, we report the fabrication of two distinct fully integrated, self‐standing solar formate device architectures and elucidate the underlying design principles and material selection strategies. The first architecture integrates a Si photocathode with a BiVO 4 photoanode and utilizes a highly active Pd catalyst for CO 2 reduction. It represents the first artificial leaf device comprising two photoelectrodes (excluding photovoltaic [PV]‐biased electrodes) for effective formate production under single‐beam illumination. The second architecture employs a dark cathode and a dark anode driven by a 4‐junction perovskite solar cell and uses a highly stable Bi catalyst for CO 2 reduction. This device delivers a record‐high formate production rate of 174 µmol h −1 with a remarkable solar‐to‐formate energy efficiency of 2% among all artificial leaf devices reported to date. These results demonstrate the feasibility and outline the design principles of both PV‐free and PV‐assisted device architectures in solar fuel production.

  PublisherDOI

• BPS2026 – Hydrogen bonds in concert: How water dynamics orchestrate photosynthetic water oxidation

  Biophysical Journal · 2026-02-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Engineering Through-Bond to Through-Space Photoinduced Charge Transport Mechanism in 2D Metal Organic Frameworks via Ligand Aromatic Core Extension

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026-02-17 · 1 citations

  articleCorresponding

  2-Dimensional (2D) photoconductive metal organic frameworks (MOFs), an emerging class of porous solids, have recently attracted great attention due to their potential applications in energy storage devices, chemiresistive sensing, and quantum information. However, the fundamental understanding of the factors that control their photoconductive mechanism remains underexplored, which significantly inhibits further development for these applications. In this work, we report a new strategy to controllably engineer their photoconductivity and charge transport (CT) pathway by systematically tuning the ligand size in 2D MOFs. Through a combination of hybrid synthesis, spectroscopic studies, and first-principles calculations, we show that extending the ligand from a single-benzene core to a 13-benzene core can effectively control both intralayer π-d orbital overlap and interlayer π-π stacking interaction. This not only significantly affects their photoconductivity but also shifts the CT pathway from a through-bond-dominated mechanism in smaller ligands to a through-space-dominated mechanism in larger ligands, providing a versatile design strategy for directional CT and opening new opportunities in photoelectronic and photocatalytic applications.

  PublisherDOI

• Electrochemical Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia Driven by Catalytic Monovacancies in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

  The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters · 2026-03-06

  article

  Developing alternative routes for ammonia (NH3) synthesis from nitrogen-containing species under mild conditions is a central challenge in sustainable catalysis. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) containing intrinsic monovacancy defects provide a distinct class of active sites for electrochemical ammonia (NH3) production. Here, we investigate the reactivity of SWCNT monovacancies in the electrochemical reduction of nitrate (NO3–), nitrite (NO2–), and hydroxylamine (NH2OH) to NH3. We find that NO3– and NO2– reduction proceeds through a single proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) pathway that requires regeneration of the vacancy site. In contrast, NH2OH reduction can occur through both vacancy-dependent and vacancy-independent mechanisms. At more negative potentials, NH2OH reacts at the regenerated vacancy to form either a ketone and NH3 or an oxime intermediate, which subsequently yields NH3 through additional PCET steps. These results establish SWCNT monovacancies as well-defined model systems for probing reaction mechanisms and guiding the design of efficient electrocatalysts for nitrate-to-ammonia conversion.

  PublisherDOI

• BPS2026 – Structure of the D1-Val185Asn-mutated photosystem II complex with slow O–O bond formation reveals changes in the Cl1 water channel

  Biophysical Journal · 2026-02-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Two Artificial Leaf Architectures for Solar Formate Production From CO ₂ and H ₂ O

  Angewandte Chemie · 2026-05-19

  article

  ABSTRACT Sunlight‐powered artificial leaves for the production of formate from CO 2 are an attractive route to solar fuels, yet existing solar formate devices remain low in performance, and their architecture and material choices are underexplored. Herein, we report the fabrication of two distinct fully integrated, self‐standing solar formate device architectures and elucidate the underlying design principles and material selection strategies. The first architecture integrates a Si photocathode with a BiVO 4 photoanode and utilizes a highly active Pd catalyst for CO 2 reduction. It represents the first artificial leaf device comprising two photoelectrodes (excluding photovoltaic [PV]‐biased electrodes) for effective formate production under single‐beam illumination. The second architecture employs a dark cathode and a dark anode driven by a 4‐junction perovskite solar cell and uses a highly stable Bi catalyst for CO 2 reduction. This device delivers a record‐high formate production rate of 174 µmol h −1 with a remarkable solar‐to‐formate energy efficiency of 2% among all artificial leaf devices reported to date. These results demonstrate the feasibility and outline the design principles of both PV‐free and PV‐assisted device architectures in solar fuel production.

  PublisherDOI

• BPS2026 – A variant of the menB strain of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 disrupts a stress response pathway, incorporating an unusual quinone in the electron transfer pathway of photosystem I

  Biophysical Journal · 2026-02-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Iridium complexes with pyridine- and imidazole-based ligands for water oxidation catalysis

  Inorganica Chimica Acta · 2026-04-15

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Mechanism of Tyrosine-Driven Deprotonation in Photosystem II Revealed by Multiscale Simulations

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026-02-23

  article

  Photosystem II (PSII) drives light-induced water oxidation via stepwise redox transitions of its oxygen-evolving complex (OEC), a Mn4Ca cluster advancing through five intermediate S-states (S0–S4). The S2 → S3 transition involves a redox event in which a Mn ion donates an electron to the redox-active tyrosine YZ, coupled to deprotonation of an OEC-bound water ligand─yet the underlying coupling mechanism remains unresolved. Time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX) has revealed transient electron density shifts near the redox-active tyrosine YZ, interpreted as sequential oxidation and reduction, with reduction initiating ∼1 μs after excitation and substantially progressed by 30 μs. However, this interpretation conflicts with kinetics from photothermal beam deflection (PBD), time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy (TR-XAS), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), which place electron transfer at 190–400 μs and proton transfer around 30 μs. Here, we reconcile these discrepancies using quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We show that oxidation of P680 and YZ breaks the symmetry of the nearby hydrogen bonds involving water molecule W4, displacing YZ and replicating the TR-SFX features of YZ and Q165 observed at 1 μs. This local perturbation propagates through a hydrogen-bond network, transmitting the electrostatic signal from YZ to the E65-E312 dyad and triggering redox-coupled deprotonation via the Cl1 channel. By 30 μs, the hydrogen-bond symmetry is restored through deprotonation of W2 (or alternatively W1), reproducing the disappearance of TR-SFX density differences around YZ and Q165 without requiring YZ reduction. Our proposed mechanism also gives molecular insights into the O6* density, assigning it to water reorganization rather than a discrete Ca-bound hydroxide species. Our results reveal a detailed atomistic mechanism linking YZ oxidation to long-range proton release and suggest a functional role for the nearby Cl– ion in proton transfer. More broadly, this study underscores the importance of hydrogen-bond dynamics in mediating redox-driven proton transport and demonstrates how integrative simulations can resolve mechanistic ambiguities.

  PublisherDOI

• A Flexible Indolocarbazole Ligand Platform for Tunable Multinuclear Metal Complexes

  Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society · 2026-04-14

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT We introduce a flexible indolocarbazole‐based ligand platform for constructing multinuclear metal complexes with tunable metal–metal separations and donor strength. The platform is functionalized with two 2‐(2′‐pyridyl)‐2‐propanoate units. This architecture provides rotational freedom that enables access to multiple coordination geometries, while deprotonation modulates ligand donor power. Coordination to iridium affords a tetracarbonyl diiridium complex with an Ir···Ir distance of 4.6 Å; computational studies indicate that μ‐oxo incorporation could contract this separation to values relevant for high‐valent iridium water oxidation catalysts. In contrast, copper coordination yields a tetranuclear solid‐state assembly that dissociates into dinuclear units in solution and features a well‐defined molecular pocket with Cu–Cu separations reminiscent of methanotrophic enzyme active sites. Although steric and oxidative limitations currently restrict catalytic activity, the ligand framework's ability to enforce specific metal–metal distances and encapsulate small molecules highlights its promise as a modular platform for multinuclear catalysis and gas‐binding applications.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01GM032715

  NIH · $5.5M · 2011

• Predoctoral Program in Biophysics

  NIH · $12.8M · 1988–2023

• Terahertz Spectroelectrochemical Methods to Study Semiconductors, 2D Materials, and Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs)

  NSF · $500k · 2020–2024

• Collaborative Research: Dinuclear Heterogeneous Catalysts (DHCs) as a new Platform for Selective Oxidation of Carbon Dioxide (CO) and Methane (CH4)

  NSF · $200k · 2020–2024

• NIH Grant R01GM036442

  NIH · $2.7M · 2004

Frequent coauthors

• Robert H. Crabtree

  Stanford University

  405 shared

• Víctor S. Batista

  Yale University

  170 shared

• Brandon Q. Mercado

  Yale University

  138 shared

• David Balcells

  University of Oslo

  96 shared

• Marie‐Noëlle Collomb

  Université Grenoble Alpes

  76 shared

• James D. Blakemore

  University of Kansas

  74 shared

• Dimitar Y. Shopov

  Washington University in St. Louis

  70 shared

• Nilay Hazari

  Yale University

  65 shared

Awards & honors

• Searle Scholar (1983-86)
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar (1985-90)
• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (1986-88)
• Elected Fellow of the AAAS (1995)
• Outstanding Achievement Award, University of Minnesota (2016…