Realizing full potential of bioelectrochemical and photoelectrochemical systems

In this issue of Joule, the study by Lu et al. on spontaneous solar syngas production from CO₂ driven by energetically favorable wastewater microbial anodes demonstrated a microbial photoelectrochemical system that combines oxidation of organic wastes in wastewater with photocathodic CO₂ reduction reaction. Spontaneous CO₂ reduction using the energy stored from sunlight and microorganisms incites the (bio)electrochemical system to the next stage by making CO₂ reduction independent from additional energy sources.