Chuan Xia

Carbon dioxide is not only a major contributor to the greenhouse effect but also an abundant carbon-based resource that can be upgraded into high-value products. CO₂ electroreduction holds great promise for both emission reduction and carbon utilization. However, its commercial scalability has been limited by challenges such as complex product separation and the difficulty of generating high-carbon-number compounds.

To overcome these hurdles, Chuan Xia has focused his research on on-site utilization of environmental resources such as carbon dioxide, water, and oxygen in the atmosphere. He aims to reshape the acquisition paths of various materials through clean electricity-driven processes and realize outstanding production efficiencies that transcend the constraints of biological evolution. 

He proposed a modified cross-linked coordination strategy to precisely tune single-atom active sites from simple to complex coordination environments. Additionally, he introduced a single-atom modulator approach that tailors the electronic structure of the catalyst support, enabling the selective conversion of CO₂ into low-carbon products such as CO, formate, and methane.

Xia also developed a hybrid electro-biosystem that spatially couples CO₂ electrolysis with yeast fermentation, achieving efficient conversion of CO₂ into glucose. At the heart of this system is a nanostructured copper catalyst that stably produces pure acetic acid in a solid electrolyte reactor. Engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae then utilizes the electrochemically produced acetate to synthesize glucose in vitro.

Moreover, he demonstrated that this platform can be readily extended to synthesize fatty acids and other value-added compounds from CO₂, providing an innovative paradigm for CO₂-based manufacturing powered by renewable energy.