Artificial photosynthesis systems are proposed as an efficient alternative route to capture CO₂ to produce additional food for growing global demand. Here a two-step CO₂ electrolyser system was developed to produce a highly concentrated acetate stream with a 57% carbon selectivity (CO₂ to acetate), allowing its direct use for the heterotrophic cultivation of yeast, mushroom-producing fungus and a photosynthetic green alga, in the dark without inputs from biological photosynthesis. An evaluation of nine crop plants found that carbon from exogenously supplied acetate incorporates into biomass through major metabolic pathways. Coupling this approach to existing photovoltaic systems could increase solar-to-food energy conversion efficiency by about fourfold over biological photosynthesis, reducing the solar footprint required. This technology allows for a reimagination of how food can be produced in controlled environments.

人工光合作用系统被提议作为一种有效的替代途径来捕获 CO ₂以生产额外的食物以满足不断增长的全球需求。这里开发了一个两步 CO ₂电解槽系统，以生产具有 57% 碳选择性（CO ₂醋酸盐), 允许它在黑暗中直接用于酵母菌、蘑菇生产真菌和光合绿藻的异养培养, 没有生物光合作用的输入。对九种作物的评估发现，来自外源供应的乙酸盐的碳通过主要代谢途径并入生物量。将这种方法与现有的光伏系统相结合，可以将太阳能转化为食物的能量转换效率提高到生物光合作用的四倍左右，从而减少所需的太阳能足迹。这项技术允许重新想象如何在受控环境中生产食物。