A chloroplast-mimicking nanoreactor for enhanced CO2 electrocatalysis

Chloroplast, which is a double-membrane-bounded organelle, is the main site for CO2 fixation via photosynthesis in green plants. The double-membrane configuration can regulate the transport of substances into and out of the chloroplasts with the aid of functional units like lipid bilayer and transmembrane proteins.

Inspired by the ingenious structure and functionality of chloroplasts, Professor Xu Zong of Dalian Maritime University, Professor Chenghua Sun of Swinburne University of Technology, and Professor Lianzhou Wang of the University of Queensland recently reported the construction of a catalytic nanoreactor capable of achieving highly selective and efficient reduction of CO2 to CO by mimicking chloroplasts in green plants.

In this study, the chloroplast-mimicking nanoreactor (CMNR) is easily obtained through the self-assembly of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) bilayer on the surface of a gold nanorod (GNR) electrocatalyst to form a core-shell structure.

Correspondingly, the selectivity of CO2 reduction to CO has been greatly enhanced. This work presents a new biomimetic design towards addressing the challenges involved in the CO2 reduction reaction, which could be applicable to a wide range of electrocatalytic reactions like oxygen reduction reaction and nitrogen reduction reaction.

Image source: Ma et al. (2024), Science Bulletin.