Light-powered bioelectrochemical conversion of CO2 for the synthesis of value-added chemicals based on gas-diffusion electrodes and enzyme cascades

Electrochemical CO2 fixation has become one of the major research fields in the area of electrocatalysis and energy conversion. Despite several improvements with respect to catalyst activity and minimization of overpotentials, the selectivity of these inorganic catalysts is rather low and usually mixtures of various products are produced that have to be separated in time and energy consuming complex steps. Nature provides highly active and selective bio(electro)catalysts, i.e. (redox) enzymes, that were developed and optimized over billions of years. The main goal of this project is to exploit the capability of this enzymatic conversion to in a novel light-powered system based on a combination of biocatalyst that are wired to the electrodes by redox polymers by simultaneous application of gas diffusion and high surface area electrodes to enhance mass transport and catalyst loading. Additionally, the use of enzyme cascades to ensure high selectivity and targeted product formation as well as the use of H2O as electron source, makes this system unique and will be a breakthrough in the design of new solar-to-chemicals devices.

Publications

Becker JM, Lielpetere A, Szczesny J, Junqueira JRC, Rodriguez-Macia P, Birell JA, Conzuelo F, Schuhmann W (2022) Bioelectrocatalytic CO2 Reduction by Redox Polymer-Wired Carbon Monoxide Dehydrogenase Gas Diffusion Electrodes. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 14, 46421−46426.

Becker JM, Lielpetere A, Szczesny J, Bichon S, Gounel S, Mano N, Schuhmann W (2022) Wiring of bilirubin oxidases with redox polymers on gas diffusion electrodes for increased stability ofself-powered biofuel cells-based glucose sensing. Bioelectrochemistry 149, 108314.

Becker JM, Lielpetere A, Szczesny J, Ruff A, Conzuelo F, Schuhmann W (2022) Assembling a Low-volume Biofuel Cell on a Screen-printed Electrode for Glucose Sensing. Electroanalysis,34, 1629–1637.

Partners

RUB

Ruhr University Bochum
Analytical Chemistry – Center for Electrochemical Sciences
Group Electroanalytics and Sensors

ITQB-NOVA
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
Bioelectrochemistry and Electrobiotechnology Lab

People

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuhmann

Ruhr University Bochum
Analytical Chemistry – Center for Electrochemical Sciences
Group Electroanalytics and Sensors

Dr. Felipe Conzuelo

ITQB-NOVA
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
Bioelectrochemistry and Electrobiotechnology Lab

Jana M. Becker

Ruhr University Bochum
Analytical Chemistry – Center for Electrochemical Sciences
Group Electroanalytics and Sensors

Other Projects