Material-Microbe Interfaces for Solar-Driven CO₂ Bioelectrosynthesis

Sustainable production of solar-based chemicals is possible by mimicking the natural photosynthetic mechanism. To realize the full potential of solar-to-chemical production, the artificial means of photosynthesis and the biological approach should complement each other. The recently developed hybrid microbe-metal interface combines an inorganic, semiconducting light-harvester material with efficient and simple microorganisms, resulting in a novel metal-microbe interface that helps the microbes to capture energy directly from sunlight. This solar energy is then used for sustainable biosynthesis of chemicals from CO₂. This review discusses various approaches to improve the electron uptake by microbes at the bioinorganic interface, especially self-photosensitized microbial systems and integrated water splitting biosynthetic systems, with emphasis on CO₂ bioelectrosynthesis.