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Back Cover: Sustainable Conversion of Microplastics to Methane with Ultrahigh Selectivity by a Biotic–Abiotic Hybrid Photocatalytic System (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 52/2022)
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Researchers developed a hybrid system combining methane-producing microbes (methanogens) with a semiconductor to convert microplastics into methane gas under light, achieving high selectivity without chemical sacrificial agents and offering insights into the environmental carbon cycle.
Methanogen–semiconductor biohybrids drive the sustainable conversion of microplastics into CH4 under illumination, as reported by Shungui Zhou, Yujie Xiong, and co-workers in their Research Article (e202213244). The biotic–abiotic hybrid system not only addresses a long-standing challenge of photocatalysis by fully utilizing photogenerated electrons and holes without the need for unsustainable chemical sacrificial quenchers, but also provides clues for a better understanding of the global carbon cycle.
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