Enhancing photosynthetic CO2 fixation by assembling metal-organic frameworks on Chlorella pyrenoidosa

Dingyi Li; Hong Dong; Xupeng Cao; Wangyin Wang; Can Li

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-40839-0

Enhancing photosynthetic CO₂ fixation by assembling metal-organic frameworks on Chlorella pyrenoidosa

Nat Commun. 2023 Sep 2;14(1):5337. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-40839-0.

Authors

Dingyi Li^#¹, Hong Dong^#², Xupeng Cao^{2

3}, Wangyin Wang⁴, Can Li^{5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, National Institute for Advanced Materials, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian, China.
³ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian, China. wywang@dicp.ac.cn.
⁵ School of Materials Science and Engineering, National Institute for Advanced Materials, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. canli@dicp.ac.cn.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian, China. canli@dicp.ac.cn.
⁷ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. canli@dicp.ac.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The CO₂ concentration at ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) is crucial to improve photosynthetic efficiency for biomass yield. However, how to concentrate and transport atmospheric CO₂ towards the Rubisco carboxylation is a big challenge. Herein, we report the self-assembly of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) on the surface of the green alga Chlorella pyrenoidosa that can greatly enhance the photosynthetic carbon fixation. The chemical CO₂ concentrating approach improves the apparent photo conversion efficiency to about 1.9 folds, which is up to 9.8% in ambient air from an intrinsic 5.1%. We find that the efficient carbon fixation lies in the conversion of the captured CO₂ to the transportable HCO₃^- species at bio-organic interface. This work demonstrates a chemical approach of concentrating atmospheric CO₂ for enhancing biomass yield of photosynthesis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Carbon Dioxide
Chlorella*
Metal-Organic Frameworks*
Photosynthesis
Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase

Substances

Carbon Dioxide
Metal-Organic Frameworks
Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase