Green CarbonPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1016/j.greenca.2025.08.003
Chunjun Zhan , Tong Liu , Yu Chen , YuDian Zhu , Xin Li , Jianming Liu , Qun Zhao , Xiulai Chen , Anping Zeng
{"title":"Advancing synthetic biology for sustainable one-carbon biomanufacturing","authors":"Chunjun Zhan , Tong Liu , Yu Chen , YuDian Zhu , Xin Li , Jianming Liu , Qun Zhao , Xiulai Chen , Anping Zeng","doi":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.08.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.08.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Synthetic biology presents a promising pathway for transforming abundant one-carbon (C1) compounds, such as CO<sub>2</sub>, CH<sub>4</sub>, and methanol, into value-added products using engineered microbes, providing a sustainable alternative to conventional biomanufacturing methods without competing with food resources. Despite the growing use of C1 feedstocks as supplementary carbon sources, their use as sole carbon substrates remains challenging because of inefficient enzyme kinetics, metabolic imbalances, and incompatibility between heterologous pathways and host physiology. This review presents recent progress in the engineering of natural and synthetic microbial chassis, focusing on the dual role of rational design and artificial intelligence (AI) in aligning exogenous C1-assimilating modules with endogenous metabolic networks. We propose that overcoming these bottlenecks requires system-level integration of multi-omics-guided strain optimization, AI-assisted protein engineering, and dynamic pathway regulation. By bridging foundational discoveries with scalable applications, this review provides a reference for the development of scalable and sustainable microbial platforms for the high-value conversion of C1 compounds, ultimately contributing to carbon neutrality and the mitigation of climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100595,"journal":{"name":"Green Carbon","volume":"4 1","pages":"Pages 43-62"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147556910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Green CarbonPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-07-01DOI: 10.1016/j.greenca.2025.06.001
Yujie Peng , Jiahui Hua , Xiaofen Huang , Kaige Yu , Tao Wang , Huan Yang
{"title":"Role of microorganisms in electrocatalysts for energy applications: Recent progresses","authors":"Yujie Peng , Jiahui Hua , Xiaofen Huang , Kaige Yu , Tao Wang , Huan Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.06.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.06.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recently, with the dual challenges of the global energy crisis and environmental pollution, developing efficient and environmentally friendly electrocatalysts is vital to clean energy conversion technologies. This review systematically elucidates the triple innovative roles of microorganisms in electrocatalysis: living biological catalysts, synthesizers of inorganic electrocatalysts, and templates for non-biological catalysts. By analyzing the corrosion properties, redox capabilities, metabolic pathways, and templating effects of microorganisms, this paper critically evaluates the application progress of microorganisms in electrocatalysts for clean energy conversion, and elucidates the design principles of microbial electrochemical technology based on the structure-activity-performance relationship. Finally, it proposes future development directions to address challenges such as electron transfer efficiency and scalable production, providing a new paradigm for sustainable electrocatalytic systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100595,"journal":{"name":"Green Carbon","volume":"4 1","pages":"Pages 74-88"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147556904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Green CarbonPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-02-10DOI: 10.1016/j.greenca.2026.02.001
Ya-Jun Liu, Xutong Yang, Valentin Valtchev, Xuefeng Lu
{"title":"Bridging science and global goals: The UN endorsement of China’s Green Carbon Programme","authors":"Ya-Jun Liu, Xutong Yang, Valentin Valtchev, Xuefeng Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.greenca.2026.02.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.greenca.2026.02.001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100595,"journal":{"name":"Green Carbon","volume":"4 1","pages":"Pages 1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147556905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Green CarbonPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-07-31DOI: 10.1016/j.greenca.2025.06.003
Fengjuan Yang , Wanqi Li , Wei Ye , Peng Hu , Yinhua Lu , Weihong Jiang , Yang Gu
{"title":"Stepwise engineering of Clostridium ljungdahlii for efficient ethanol production from single-carbon gases","authors":"Fengjuan Yang , Wanqi Li , Wei Ye , Peng Hu , Yinhua Lu , Weihong Jiang , Yang Gu","doi":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.06.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.06.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ethanol, a cornerstone biofuel, has been successfully produced on an industrial scale <em>via</em> fermentation of industrial off-gases (CO/CO<sub>2</sub>) using gas-fermenting <em>Clostridium</em> strains. To further enhance clostridial ethanol synthesis during gas fermentation, efforts have focused on the rational design and genetic modification of <em>Clostridium</em> strains. However, progress remains limited, indicating substantial potential for further optimization and improvement. In this study, we systematically and genetically engineered <em>Clostridium ljungdahlii</em> DSM 13528, a well-characterized gas-fermenting <em>Clostridium</em> strain, to achieve highly efficient ethanol synthesis <em>via</em> gas fermentation. By implementing a three-pronged metabolic strategy—strengthening ethanol synthesis pathways, improving acetate assimilation, and reducing 2,3-butanediol byproduct formation—we maximized carbon flux toward ethanol biosynthesis. The optimized strain exhibited a remarkable ethanol synthesis capacity for fermenting a CO–CO<sub>2</sub>–H<sub>2</sub> mixture, producing 30.1 g/L of ethanol within 102 h. This study established fundamental metabolic engineering principles for developing high-performance gas-fermenting <em>Clostridium</em> strains for sustainable ethanol synthesis from CO/CO<sub>2</sub> substrates. This strategy can be readily adapted to industrial gas-fermenting <em>Clostridium</em> strains to enable more economically viable ethanol production.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100595,"journal":{"name":"Green Carbon","volume":"4 1","pages":"Pages 89-95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147556901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Green CarbonPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-06-27DOI: 10.1016/j.greenca.2025.05.002
Te Tu , Tiezhou Wu , Xi Zhang , Feihong Liang , Long Ji , Shuiping Yan
{"title":"Coupling gas-assisted stripping and waste heat recovery for energy-efficient carbon capture process","authors":"Te Tu , Tiezhou Wu , Xi Zhang , Feihong Liang , Long Ji , Shuiping Yan","doi":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.05.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.05.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A novel CO<sub>2</sub> regeneration process was designed by coupling gas-assisted stripping to waste heat recovery (WHR) from the stripped gas, and this process was successfully implemented on a CO<sub>2</sub> regeneration test rig. N<sub>2</sub> was used as a model stripping gas to enhance CO<sub>2</sub> regeneration and introduced through one of two modes: into the bottom of the CO<sub>2</sub> stripper (the N<sub>2</sub>-bubbling mode) or at the side of the stripper (the N<sub>2</sub>-sweeping mode). Waste heat from the stripped gas, which was a mixture of H<sub>2</sub>O(g) and noncondensable gas, was also recovered and reintroduced into the stripper using the cold CO<sub>2</sub>-rich solvent bypassed from the main rich solvent stream. The experimental results verified that N<sub>2</sub>-assisted stripping could reduce the reboiler duty by enhancing the driving force for CO<sub>2</sub> regeneration. Compared to the traditional thermal regeneration process, the reboiler duty could be reduced by 7.9% in the N<sub>2</sub>-assisted stripping regeneration process. Furthermore, when waste heat of the stripped gas was recovered using a transport membrane condenser in the N<sub>2</sub>-bubbling regeneration mode, the maximum reboiler duty saving could reach 26.8%. Such gas-assisted stripping is applicable in the WHR system to reduce energy consumption through dual pathways, namely upgraded driving force for CO<sub>2</sub> regeneration and improved WHR. In future work, a more suitable stripping gas should be developed to facilitate CO<sub>2</sub> separation from the stripped gas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100595,"journal":{"name":"Green Carbon","volume":"4 1","pages":"Pages 3-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147556902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Green CarbonPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-24DOI: 10.1016/j.greenca.2025.10.008
Jilei Jiang , Lijun Gao , Jinqi Hu , Lunxiu Cui , Hao Liu , Xu Zhang , Shucong Zhang , Ke Gao , Heqing Jiang , Minghua Huang , Shuixing Dai
{"title":"Effect of core on photovoltaic performance of naphthalimide interlayer materials","authors":"Jilei Jiang , Lijun Gao , Jinqi Hu , Lunxiu Cui , Hao Liu , Xu Zhang , Shucong Zhang , Ke Gao , Heqing Jiang , Minghua Huang , Shuixing Dai","doi":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.10.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.10.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, we designed and synthesized three naphthalimide (NI)-based organic cathode interlayer materials (CIMs) with different electron-donating cores—N2FN, NEDOT, and NDTP. As the size and electron-donating ability of the cores increased, the CIMs exhibited enhanced thermal stabilities with increased decomposition temperatures, red-shifted and enlarged absorption spectra, and elevated molecular orbital energy levels. The N2FN with a fluorinated thiophene core exhibited the strongest self-doping effect and intermolecular π stacking, leading to the highest electron mobility and the poorest surface contact. By contrast, the NEDOT and NDTP with steric cores exhibited relatively low self-doping intensity and large <span>d</span>‐spacing of π-π stacking but demonstrated smooth surface morphologies and good electric contact with low series resistance. Finally, binary organic solar cells (OSCs) based on the NDTP interlayer exhibited a power conversion efficiency of up to 18.5%, which was higher than those of N2FN (15.3%) and NEDOT (17.8%) cores. This study reveals that the core method is an effective way to design efficient NI-based CIMs for high-efficiency non-fullerene OSCs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100595,"journal":{"name":"Green Carbon","volume":"4 1","pages":"Pages 34-40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147556903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Green CarbonPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-03-27DOI: 10.1016/j.greenca.2025.02.005
Ruizi Li , Junting Pan , Jiale Xing , Wenqiang Yang
{"title":"The secret of high carbon fixation efficiency in Chlamydomonas and its potential to boost yields in land plants","authors":"Ruizi Li , Junting Pan , Jiale Xing , Wenqiang Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.02.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.02.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Microalgae are renowned for their exceptional carbon fixation efficiency as photosynthetic organisms. Although they constitute only a small fraction of the total biomass of primary producers, microalgae are responsible for approximately half of the Earth’s daily CO<sub>2</sub> fixation. This extraordinary capacity is primarily attributed to the enhanced carboxylation activity of RuBisCO, an enzyme that fixes CO<sub>2</sub> through biophysical CO<sub>2</sub>-concentrating mechanisms (CCMs). Additionally, microalgae exhibit efficient light capture, robust photoprotective capabilities, and remarkable adaptability and distribution, further contributing to their high carbon fixation efficiency. Understanding the molecular components underlying this efficiency and transferring these traits to higher plants offer a promising approach for boosting crop yields and improving resilience to climate change. This review uses <em>Chlamydomonas reinhardtii</em> as a model to explore the principles and molecular mechanisms of CCMs in microalgae. It also discusses the potential applications and challenges of incorporating these mechanisms into land plants to enhance their photosynthetic performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100595,"journal":{"name":"Green Carbon","volume":"4 1","pages":"Pages 63-73"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147556899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Green CarbonPub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-05-09DOI: 10.1016/j.greenca.2025.03.004
Zibo Yang , Qingqing Li , Bin Li , Tongan Yan , Shuwen Yu , Zhihua Qiao
{"title":"COF-999: A high-performance CO2 adsorbent for direct air capture technology","authors":"Zibo Yang , Qingqing Li , Bin Li , Tongan Yan , Shuwen Yu , Zhihua Qiao","doi":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.03.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.greenca.2025.03.004","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100595,"journal":{"name":"Green Carbon","volume":"3 4","pages":"Pages 395-397"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145801933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}