Polymer semiconductor films and bacteria hybrid artificial bio-leaves
Na Wen, Qianqing Jiang, Dianyi Liu
Abstract
Bio-artificial photosynthetic systems can reduce CO 2 into multicarbon compounds by simulating natural photosynthesis. Here, inspired by organic photovoltaic structures, we demonstrate a bio-artificial photosynthetic system based on the hybridization of polymer semiconductor films and bacteria. The study suggests that the polymer-based semiconductor film can efficiently drive the non-photosynthetic bacteria to convert CO 2 to acetate. By systematically characterizing the charge transport behavior of the bio-artificial photosynthetic system, the bulk-heterojunction structure and charge transport layers are proven to enhance the system performance markedly. The scalable floating artificial bio-leaf system can produce acetate to gram scale in a week. Notably, the semiconductor film is easy to recycle and maintains stable performance, showing good sustainable production capability of the system. A quasi–solid-state artificial bio-leaf is successfully prepared using agar to simulate the morphology and function of natural leaves. Last, the acetate production converted from CO 2 was used to grow yeast for food production, thus achieving a complete simulation of natural photosynthesis.