Semi-artificial Photosynthesis using Formate Dehydrogenase

Semi-artificial photosynthesis interfaces biological catalysts with synthetic light absorbers to overcome the inherent limitations of both artificial and natural photosynthesis. Furthermore, this emerging approach can also unlock novel reaction pathways and chemistries with significant technological potential and thus provides new opportunities that are currently not available in solar fuels or algae research. This presentation will summarise our progress in integrating the redox enzyme formate dehydrogenase into bespoke hierarchical 3D electrode scaffolds, photoelectrodes and semiconductor powders. Specifically, formate dehydrogenase immobilised on electrodes enables catalytic CO? reduction to formate with electrochemical reversibility and can thus operate at very low overpotential with high selectivity. The design principles for the integration of formate dehydrogenase in bespoke synthetic 3D electrode scaffolds and a detailed analysis of the biocatalyst-material interface will be presented. The understanding of the biotic-abiotic interface ultimately allows for the rational wiring of the biocatalyst into photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic systems for the solar synthesis of fuels and chemicals. Overall, the lecture aims to demonstrate that formate dehydrogenase should be considered as unique model electrocatalyst for CO?-to-formate conversion in solar catalysis as it enables performance currently not achievable by synthetic catalysts. A recent review on this topic is available: Liu et al., Chem. Rev., 2026, 126, 8034??"8088 (https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.6c00095).

Speaker: Erwin Reisner, University of Cambridge