Bacteria coated electrodes lessen cost of CO2 conversion

Carbon is needed to make products such as clothing, perfume, jet fuel, concrete and plastic, but recycling CO₂ typically requires that it be separated from other gasses which is costly.

Now, new kinds of electrodes, enhanced with a coating of bacteria, can circumvent that step. While conventional metal electrodes react with sulphur, oxygen and other components of air and flue gasses, the bacteria appear less sensitive to them. The work is detailed in Environmental Science Nano.

"The microbes on these electrodes, or biocatalysts, can use smaller concentrations of CO₂ and seem more robust in terms of handling impurities when compared with electrodes that use metal catalysts," Joshua Jack, U-M assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and first author of the paper said in a statement.

"Platforms that use metals seem to be much more sensitive to impurities and often need higher CO₂ concentrations to work. So if you wanted to take CO₂ directly out of power plants' emissions, the biotic catalyst may be able to do it with minimal clean-up of that gas."