Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents Enhanced Electro-Enzymatic Conversion of CO2 to Methanol

Zhibo Zhang; Hui Wang; Yi Nie; Xiangping Zhang; Xiaoyan Ji

doi:10.3389/fchem.2022.894106

Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents Enhanced Electro-Enzymatic Conversion of CO₂ to Methanol

Front Chem. 2022 May 27:10:894106. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2022.894106. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zhibo Zhang¹, Hui Wang², Yi Nie^{3

4}, Xiangping Zhang⁴, Xiaoyan Ji¹

Affiliations

¹ Energy Engineering, Division of Energy Science, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden.
² State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China.
³ Zhengzhou Institute of Emerging Industrial Technology, Zhengzhou, China.
⁴ Beijing Key Laboratory of Ionic Liquids Clean Process, CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Complex Systems, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Electro-enzymatic conversion of CO₂ offers a promising solution for CO₂ utilization, while the conversion rate and efficiency were disappointing. To address the challenge, four kinds of natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) with desirable biocompatibility were developed for the first time and used as the co-electrolyte in the electro-enzymatic conversion of CO₂. As a result, the SerGly-based solution presents high CO₂ solubility and high electrocatalytic activity, compared to the conventional buffer. By applying SerGly in the electro-enzymatic conversion of CO₂, the yield of the product (methanol) is two times higher than that in the Tris-HCl buffer (0.22 mM) and 16 times higher than the control reaction.

Keywords: CO2 conversion; NADESs; electrocatalysis; enzyme; methanol.