A team of scientists has developed a new solar-powered reactor that grows live bacteria using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. The study was led by Lin Su from Queen Mary University of London and published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
The new system combines chemistry and biology in a single container. Inside the device, engineered E. coli bacteria live in the same liquid where carbon dioxide is converted into a useful energy source. The reactor uses sunlight to drive the entire process. Researchers say the technology could one day be used to produce environmentally friendly chemicals, plastics, and even proteins for food production.
Modern industry still depends heavily on fossil fuels. Scientists around the world are searching for cleaner ways to make fuels and chemicals. Two major ideas are already being explored. One is to use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide into useful molecules. The other includes using genetically engineered bacteria to create valuable products. Until now, these two systems usually worked separately or required complicated steps between reactors. The new study indicates that both processes can happen together in one beaker.
This is important because it reduces complexity and may make future industrial systems cheaper and more efficient. The researchers believe these findings could become the foundation for future “solar refineries” that produce sustainable products using sunlight and carbon dioxide instead of oil or gas. The reactor contains several important parts working together. It uses an organic solar cell, a semiconductor electrode, special enzymes, and engineered bacteria.
These parts copy the main steps of photosynthesis. This mechanism is the process plants use to turn sunlight into energy. But this system works without plants, algae or photosynthetic microbes. Inside the reactor, sunlight drives two important reactions. First, water is split at one electrode. This produces oxygen.
The bacteria later use the oxygen to survive and grow. Second, another electrode uses an enzyme to capture carbon dioxide from the liquid. The carbon dioxide is then turned into a formate. Formate is a small molecule that can store energy from sunlight. The engineered E. coli bacteria absorb the formate and use it as fuel.
They combine this energy with oxygen from the reactor to grow new biomass from carbon dioxide. In simple terms, sunlight goes into the system, and living bacteria come out. Researchers say the biggest achievement is proving that the entire chain works in one liquid environment. Earlier attempts often failed because the chemical reactions released toxic metal ions that harmed the bacteria. In this new system, the bacteria survived safely alongside the solar-powered chemistry. Dr Su said the work demonstrates that solar-powered chemical systems and living microbes can successfully share the same reactor.
He explained that once the system works, scientists can replace the bacteria with other engineered strains designed to produce different products. This means future versions of the technology could make many useful materials, not just biomass. Although the technology is still at an early stage, scientists are optimistic. Current yields remain small, and the reactor only runs for a few hours at a time.
However, the study shows strong potential for future development. Researchers from several institutions contributed to the project. Celine Wing See Yeung from the University of Cambridge said the study brought together years of research in materials science, enzyme engineering and synthetic biology. She described the project as a combination of different scientific fields working together to build future solar-powered chemical factories.
Ron Milo from the Weizmann Institute of Science said the successful integration of chemistry and biology could become crucial for sustainable manufacturing. He added that growing bacteria from carbon dioxide may eventually help produce food while using less land and water. Erwin Reisner said the study proves synthetic light-absorbing materials can work together with engineered microbes to mimic the central reaction of photosynthesis. According to him, the research opens exciting opportunities for sustainable manufacturing and greener industrial production in the future.
