Photoelectrochemical approaches for the conversion of lignin at room temperature

The selective cleavage of C-C/C-O linkages represents a key step toward achieving the chemical conversion of biomass to targeted value-added chemical products under ambient conditions. Using photoelectrosynthetic solar cells is a promising method to address the energy intensive depolymerization of lignin for the production of biofuels and valuable chemicals. This feature article gives an in-depth overview of recent progress using dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthetic solar cells (DSPECs) to initiate the cleavage of C-C/C-O bonds in lignin and related model compounds. This approach takes advantage of N-oxyl mediated catalysis in organic electrolytes and presents a promising direction for the sustainable production of chemicals currently derived from fossil fuels.