https://www.cas.cn/syky/202501/t20250108_5044456.shtml

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202421120

A research team led by Zhang Lingling at the CAS Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology has synthesised ATP by ATP synthase on thylakoid membranes driven by electrical energy. The thylakoid components were extracted from the chloroplast grana of spinach Spinacia oleracea. Through a one-step morphological transformation reaction, the grana thylakoid membrane was transformed into a planar thylakoid membrane, and loaded on a perfluorosulfonic acid diaphragm, a proton exchange membrane commonly used in electrochemical cells, giving the perfluorosulfonic acid diaphragm additional biological activity. In an electrolytic water system,  efficient coupling of ATP synthesis and electrochemical reaction was achieved, and under an applied voltage of 3 V, 8.39±1.37 μM ATP was generated within 120 min, the ATP synthesis rate reached up to 15 nmol cm-2h-1, and the Faraday efficiency was 0.19%.