Coupling Photocatalytic Reduction and Biosynthesis Towards Sustainable CO <sub>2</sub> Upcycling
Mengjie Yu, M. Li, Xinzhe Zhang, Zhen Ge, Enze Xu, Lei Wang, Boyu Yin, Yibo Dou, Yusen Yang, Xin Zhang, Qiang Fei, Min Wei, Tianwei Tan
Abstract
Abstract Upcycling carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into long‐chain compounds has attracted considerable attention with respect to mitigating environmental problems and obtaining value‐added feedstocks, but remains a great challenge. Herein, we report a tandem photocatalysis‐biosynthesis strategy for efficient CO 2 reduction to energy‐rich sucrose or α‐farnesene. Firstly, photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 to CH 4 was optimized over the transitional metal doped ZnO (M−ZnO). The as‐prepared Ni−ZnO preferentially reduces CO 2 to CH 4 with a production rate of 1539.1 μmol g −1 h −1 and a selectivity of 90 %, owing to the unique interface structure (Zn δ + −O−Ni β + ). Subsequently, Methylomicrobium buryatense 5GB1C was genetically engineered to produce sucrose or α‐farnesene using photocatalytically‐obtained CH 4 as the sole carbon source, with a titer of 96.3 and 43.9 mg L −1 , respectively. This study provides a green, low‐energy pathway for the synthesis of long‐chain compounds from CO 2 as the carbon source, which sheds new light on tackling long‐term energy demands and sustainable CO 2 upcycling.