Coupling Electrocatalysis and Biotransformation for CO₂-Based Biomanufacturing

Abstract

Transformation of CO₂ into high-value, long-chain carbon compounds is a long-term goal for CO₂ conversion and utilization. Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction can achieve C1/C2 products with a high formation rate, while biosynthesis can utilize these C1/C2 species as substrates for carbon chain elongation. Coupling these two processes offers a promising avenue for efficient CO₂ fixation via synergizing the advantages of both sides. However, it is still challenging to realize its widespread application because of the poor compatibility between different modules. This review summarizes and discusses current developments in electrocatalytic-biosynthetic hybrid systems for CO₂ upcycling. First, the recent advances of individual modules are introduced, including conversion pathways, representative electrocatalysts and typical reactors for electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction process and microbial synthesis and in vitro multi-enzyme cascade catalysis for low-carbon bio-conversion process. Then, key factors that influence system coupling are discussed via analyzing the features of single modules and their cross-interference effects. Finally, several construction strategies are proposed based on different integration scenarios, offering guidance for the design and optimization of these hybrid systems.

Keywords

CO₂ upcycling / Electrocatalytic-biosynthetic hybrid systems / Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction / Biological C1/C2 utilization

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, H.C. and L.Z.; Writing—Original Draft Preparation, H.C. and X.W.; Writing—Review & Editing, H.C. and L.Z.; Supervision, L.Z.; Funding Acquisition, L.Z.

Ethics Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Funding

This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences XDC0120103 and CAS Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research YSBR 072-3.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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