| Non-biological |
High solar energy conversion efficiencies |
Low product selectivity from CO2 reduction |
| Ease of design, tunability, and characterisation |
Tends to produce CO only pH gradients result in transfer limitations and may subject the electrodes to corrosion |
| Broad absorption bands |
Internal resistance of the system may require an external bias to overcome |
|
Use of limited raw materials e.g., rare earth metals |
| Enzymatic |
High rates and yields |
Expensive to isolate and purify |
| High selectivity towards CO2-to-chemicals |
Sensitive to a variety of environmental conditions (e.g., O2, pH and temperature) |
| Microbial |
Utilises a myriad of enzyme cascades and metabolic pathways to synthesise complex products from simple feedstocks |
Prioritises survival over efficiency |
| Resilient to environmental stress |
Susceptible to electron losses due to slow kinetics between microbe and electrode |
| Self-healing capabilities |
ROS produced during photocatalysis may deactivate microbial activities |
| Can be genetically engineered to increase conversion efficiencies, produce more complex chemicals, and improve product selectivity |
|
| Mild reaction conditions |
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