The synthetic chloroplasts fixate carbon dioxide using solar energy. Source: Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology/ErbAn artificial photosynthetic system engineered at Germany’s Max Planck Institute mimics the process used by plants to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide. The cell-sized photosynthetic modules developed with microfluidics technology perform the same function as the botanical organelles by converting light into chemical energy and driving CO₂ fixation.

The synthetic chloroplasts were designed with thylakoids, the active parts of a plant’s photosynthesis system, isolated from spinach. These thylakoid membranes were combined in an artificial metabolic module containing 18 biocatalysts that efficiently convert CO₂ and encapsulated in cell-sized water-in-oil droplets

The resulting microfluidic platform can be programmed and controlled by adjusting internal compositions and by using light as an external trigger. The system was demonstrated to bind CO₂ 100 times faster than other semi-synthetic photosynthesis systems.