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Ionic liquids (ILs) with remarkable performance offer opportunities to advance green and low-carbon chemical processes. Thus, much work is focused on building an innovative theory and knowledge framework to unravel the nature of ILs. Moreover, there is an increasing trend to utilize ILs in rapidly emerging fields. Aiming to provide an overview of the recent advances and challenges of ILs in the development of green processes for renewable resources, this review highlights the properties and functions of ILs in IL gating and as electrolyte additives, modifiers, exfoliation agents, nucleation substrates, tunable solvents, versatile carriers and biosensor components in three representative and revolutionary production processes, namely, new energy, electronic information materials, and biotechnologies. The innovative applications of ILs demonstrate their potential to create a landscape of low-carbon, high-end and smart technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient bioactivation of CO2 provides an alternative new strategy for producing high value chemicals and fuels. Normally, in vitro activation of CO2 can be achieved by using formate dehydrogenase (FDH). However, the CO2 solubility and the activity of commercial FDHCb remain a tough challenge for the efficient bioactivation of CO2. Here, we report a new "ionozyme" strategy created by using ionic liquids (ILs) as a solvent and enzyme stabilizer, resulting in a 142.3-fold increase in CO2 conversion over FDHCb. The ionozyme (FDHPa-[CH][Pro]-[TMGH][PhO]) was first developed by combing a discovered novel FDHPa with an efficient synergistic ionic microenvironment. The remarkable performance of this ionozyme is attributed to forming key intermediates [CH][ProCOO] and [TMGH][PhOCOO], stabilizing the enzyme structure with increased solvation structure, and shortening the distance (3.9 Å) between NADH and CO2 to favor the hydride transfer by facilitating their relative orientation and forming new hydrogen bonds at the active sites. This bioactivation of CO2 by this specific ionozyme represents ideal starting points for the sustainable carbon cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient enzymatic conversion of CO2 to methanol is limited by low CO2 solubility in water (33 mM), and the high-cost of the cofactor (NADH) hinders the potential large-scale application of CO2 enzymatic conversion. In this study, a bioelectrocatalytic system was established for tackling both these issues, and in this system enzymes were embedded in the metal–organic framework ZIF-8 via in situ encapsulation to increase the substrate (CO2) concentration and pre-concentrate NADH, and a Rh complex-grafted electrode was developed for regenerating NADH in a sustainable manner. The results showed that after encapsulation of enzymes in ZIF-8, the methanol concentration increased from 0.061 to 0.320 mM (5 fold) in three hours. Furthermore, after coupling with electrocatalytic NADH regeneration, the methanol concentration further increased to 0.742 mM (12 fold) compared to a free enzyme system. Overall, methanol was produced at a rate of 822 μmol g−1 h−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient bioactivation of CO2 provides an alternative new strategy for producing high value chemicals and fuels. Normally, in vitro activation of CO2 can be achieved by using formate dehydrogenase (FDH). However, the CO2 solubility and the activity of commercial FDHCb remain a tough challenge for the efficient bioactivation of CO2. Here, we report a new "ionozyme" strategy created by using ionic liquids (ILs) as a solvent and enzyme stabilizer, resulting in a 142.3-fold increase in CO2 conversion over FDHCb. The ionozyme (FDHPa-[CH][Pro]-[TMGH][PhO]) was first developed by combing a discovered novel FDHPa with an efficient synergistic ionic microenvironment. The remarkable performance of this ionozyme is attributed to forming key intermediates [CH][ProCOO] and [TMGH][PhOCOO], stabilizing the enzyme structure with increased solvation structure, and shortening the distance (3.9 Å) between NADH and CO2 to favor the hydride transfer by facilitating their relative orientation and forming new hydrogen bonds at the active sites. This bioactivation of CO2 by this specific ionozyme represents ideal starting points for the sustainable carbon cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]