Self-photosensitization of nonphotosynthetic bacteria for solar-to-chemical production

Using light in the darkness Solid-state devices can efficiently capture solar energy to produce chemicals and fuels from carbon dioxide. Yet biology has already developed a high-specificity, low-cost system to do just that through photosynthesis. Sakimoto et al. developed a biological-inorganic hybrid that combines the best of both worlds (see the Perspective by Müller). They precipitated semiconductor nanoparticles on the surface of a nonphotosynthetic bacterium to serve as a light harvester. The captured energy sustained cellular metabolism, producing acetic acid: a natural waste product of respiration. Science , this issue p. 74 ; see also p. 34