Piezoelectric, thermoelectric, photochemical materials for sustainable redox biocatalysis

Abstract

Redox biocatalysts are potential catalyst materials that catalyze various industrially important redox reactions with high selectivity and efficiency under mild reaction conditions. In this dissertation, a collaborative catalysis platform combining energy harvesting materials with oxidoreductases is proposed for a sustainable production of value-added fine chemicals. Through material engineering of piezoelectric, thermoelectric, and photochemical materials, wasted energy was directly converted into chemical energy that is further used in enzymatic reactions. The proposed systems catalyzed a variety of redox reactions, including selective hydroxylation reactions, epoxidation reactions, and CO2-to-formate reduction reactions. In summary, this thesis provides a universal strategy for a sustainable redox biocatalytic platform for selective chemical conversions.