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Bio-inspired Solar Energy

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The process of photosynthesis, which plants use to turn the sun’s energy into fuel, has been optimized over billions of years of evolution. The Bio-inspired Solar Energy program looks to biology for inspiration on how to create better ways of harvesting light energy, transporting it, and storing it.

 

RESEARCH AND SOCIETAL IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS

A flow cell inspired by natural systems

Fellow Christopher Chang (University of California, Berkeley) and Program Co-Director Curtis Berlinguette completed a CIFAR Catalyst Fund project that drew inspiration from the photosynthetic capabilities of the leaf. Their teams developed an artificial system that mimics principles of this natural system to produce valuable carbon-based products from CO2.

Improving product selectivity when converting CO2 into useful byproducts

One of the outstanding challenges in closing the loop on a carbon-neutral energy economy is the efficient conversion of CO2 into fuels and chemicals, using electricity from renewable resources to drive the reaction. Because CO2 is a very stable molecule, this process requires a catalyst to proceed at a useful rate. So far, most catalysts are unselective, meaning that they produce a number of different chemical products from CO2. Fellow Thomas Mallouk (University of Pennsylvania) has designed membranes that manage the flow of ions in CO2 electrolyzers and control the local microenvironment at the catalyst surface. These membranes enable better selectivity in the conversion of CO2 into useful chemicals and fuels.

Linking carbon dioxide capture and utilization through nature

Program Co-Director Curtis Berlinguette (University of British Columbia) and Advisor Shaffiq Jaffer (Total American Services) worked with industry partners to successfully design an electrolyzer system that can leverage carbonic anhydrase enzymes to catalyze carbon dioxide (CO2) capture into liquid bicarbonate solutions. By leveraging these enzyme-containing solutions, one can bypass energy-intensive CO2 recovery steps that are often required to convert CO2 into value-added products and a path can be developed to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

New insights into bacterial CO2 utilization

The enzyme carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) catalyzes the reversible oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) to CO2 and has attracted interest as a potential catalyst for bioremediation and biofuel production. However, researchers do not have a detailed understanding of how all CODH enzymes capture these gases and direct them to their active sites. A group led by Fellow Catherine Drennan (Howard Hughes Medical Institute, MIT) determined the crystal structure of xenon pressurized CODH from bacteria to provide insight into the channelling of CO to CODH active sites. The team found that this bacterial enzyme has an additional channel that had not previously been observed. These insights may lead to novel approaches in synthetic CO2 utilization systems.

Path to Societal Impact

We invite experts in industry, civil society, healthcare and government to join fellows in our Bio-Inspired Solar Energy program for in-depth, cross-sectoral conversations that drive change and innovation.

Experts from industry and government laboratories and CIFAR fellows in the Bio-Inspired Solar Energy program are developing highly efficient carbon dioxide electrolyzers that can mitigate climate change.

Areas of focus:

  • Understanding the chemical processes and equipment needed to generate feedstock chemicals from carbon dioxide
  • Developing highly efficient, stable, and scalable carbon dioxide electrolyzers 

 

Founded

2014

Renewal Dates

2020

Supporters

Fondation Arthur J.E. Child, Fondation de la famille Chisholm Thomson, Fondation caritative George Cedric Metcalf, Gerald Heffernan, Groupe McLean, RBC Fondation, Fondation familiale Trottier

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Chemistry
Materials Science
Biophysics
Physics
Engineering
Biology
Data Science
Biochemistry
Machine Learning
Robotics

CIFAR Contact

Fiona Cunningham

Fellows & Advisors

Program Directors

Alán Aspuru-Guzik

Alán Aspuru-Guzik

Program Co-Director
Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Lebovic Fellow

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
Curtis P. Berlinguette

Curtis P. Berlinguette

Program Co-Director

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of British Columbia
Canada

Fellows

Alán Aspuru-Guzik

Alán Aspuru-Guzik

Program Co-Director
Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Lebovic Fellow

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
Christopher J. Chang

Christopher J. Chang

Fellow

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of California Berkeley
United States
Catherine L. Drennan

Catherine L. Drennan

Fellow

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
Rienk van Grondelle

Rienk van Grondelle

Associate Fellow

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Sharon Hammes-Schiffer

Sharon Hammes-Schiffer

Fellow

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Yale University
United States
Thomas Mallouk

Thomas Mallouk

Fellow

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Pennsylvania State University
United States
Gabriela Schlau-Cohen

Gabriela Schlau-Cohen

Heffernan Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
Gregory Scholes

Gregory Scholes

Fellow

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Princeton University
United States
Aleksandra Vojvodic

Aleksandra Vojvodic

Trottier Family Foundation Fellow

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of Pennsylvania
United States

Advisors

Fraser Armstrong

Fraser Armstrong

Advisor

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Oxford University
United Kingdom
Richard Cogdell

Richard Cogdell

Advisory Committee Chair

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Glasgow University
United Kingdom
Osamu Ishitani

Osamu Ishitani

Advisor

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Japan
Shaffiq Jaffer

Shaffiq Jaffer

Advisor

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Total American Services
United States
Vivian Wing-Wah Yam

Vivian Wing-Wah Yam

Advisor

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars

Chibueze Amanchukwu

Chibueze Amanchukwu

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of Chicago
United States
Ariel Furst

Ariel Furst

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
Nathaniel Gabor

Nathaniel Gabor

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2017-2019

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of California Riverside
United States
Ximin He

Ximin He

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2019-2021

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of California Los Angeles
United States
Prineha Narang

Prineha Narang

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2018-2020

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Harvard University
United States
Eva Nichols

Eva Nichols

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of British Columbia
Canada
Gabriela Schlau-Cohen

Gabriela Schlau-Cohen

Heffernan Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
Yogesh Surendranath

Yogesh Surendranath

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2018-2020

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
Haotian Wang

Haotian Wang

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2019-2021

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Rice University
United States
Jeffrey J. Warren

Jeffrey J. Warren

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Simon Fraser University
Canada
Jenny Yang

Jenny Yang

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2018-2020

Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of California Irvine
United States

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