Photosynthetic Biohybrid Systems: A Promising Approach for Energy and Environmental Applications

Photosynthetic biohybrid systems (PBSs), integrating biocatalysts such as enzymes and microorganisms with light-responsive synthetic materials, offer a promising strategy to address urgent global challenges in renewable energy production and environmental remediation. Conventional chemical processes often suffer from high-energy input, poor selectivity, and limited sustainability. Meanwhile, standalone biocatalyst systems are restricted by their low stability, narrow substrate scope, and inefficient solar energy utilization despite having high specificity under mild conditions. PBSs overcome these limitations by coupling the high selectivity and biocompatibility of enzymatic and microbial systems with the stability and tunable photophysics of the synthetic components. However, the charge transfer and interface mechanisms between the biotic and abiotic components in PBSs remain elusive, and comparative analyses across PBS types are rare, hindering the integrated design and scalability. This review systematically compares enzyme- and microbe-based PBSs, establishing a multidimensional framework to evaluate their quantitative performance, including product yield, solar-to-chemical energy efficiency, selectivity, turnover frequency, and operational stability. Additionally, we highlight key advances in interface engineering and identify specific performance bottlenecks. Further, we explore the dual functionality of PBSs in energy generation and environmental remediation and propose integrative optimization strategies informed by techno-economic and life cycle assessments to guide future innovation and industrial translation.