Candida boidinii NAD+-dependent formate dehydrogenase (CbFDH) has gained significant attention for its potential applications in the production of biofuels and various industrial chemicals from inorganic carbon dioxide. In this study, we present an atomic X-ray crystal structure of the apo CbFDH to 1.4 Å resolution determined at cryogenic temperature at the Turkish Light Source, “Turkish DeLight”. This structure offers a comprehensive view of the apo enzyme's dynamics, filling the gaps in our understanding from previous studies. Also, comparison of our high-resolution apo and previously available holo enzyme structures reveals major conformational changes of this dynamic enzyme in the absence and presence of the coenzyme and substrate/inhibitor complexes. Collectively all these information may provide invaluable insights into future protein engineering efforts that could enhance enzymatic activity and stability, potentially increasing its efficiency and effectiveness of CbFDH in industrial processes.

The rapid development of electrochemical CO2 reduction offers a promising route to convert in-termittent renewable energy into products of high value-added fuels or chemical feedstocks. However, low faradaic efficiency, low current density, and a narrow potential range still limited the large-scale application of CO2RR electrocatalyst. Herein, monolith 3D bi-continuous nano-porous Bismuth (np-Bi) electrodes are fabricated via a simple one-step electrochemical dealloying strategy from Pb-Bi binary alloy. The unique bi-continuous porous structure ensures highly effective charge transfer, meanwhile the controllable millimeter-size geometric porous structure enables easy catalyst adjustment to expose highly suitable surface curvatures with abundant reactive sites. This results in a high selectivity of 92.6% and superior potential window (400 mV, selectivity >88%) for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formate. Our scalable strategy provides a feasible pathway for mass-producing high-performance and versatile CO2 electrocatalysts.

Information taken from David A. Scott’s book “Copper and Bronze in Art” was crucial for research on copper corrosion products in Stuttgart. Examples discussed are the nature and variability of ‘Black Spots’ (aka ‘Brown Fuzzies’); cupric hydroxide by cleaning, patination, and pigment synthesis; the wondrous phenomenon of curly malachite; chalconatronite formed by contact to soda glass; the formation of copper formates by glass-induced metal corrosion; and synthesis and X-ray diffraction of basic copper acetates (‘verdigris’).

Direct electron transfer (DET)-type bioelectrocatalysis, which couples electrode reactions and catalytic functions of redox enzymes without any redox mediator, is one of the most intriguing subjects studied over the past decades in the field of bioelectrochemistry. In order to realize the DET-type bioelectrocatalysis and to improve the performance, nanostructures of the electrode surface have to be carefully tuned for each enzyme. In addition, enzymes can also be tuned by protein engineering approach for the DET-type reaction. This review summarizes the resent progresses in this field of the research, while taking into consideration of the importance of nanostructure of electrodes as well as redox enzymes. Described are basic concepts and theoretical aspects of DET-type bioelectrocatalysis, significance of nanostructures as scaffolds for DET-type reactions, protein engineering approached for DET-type reactions, and concepts and facts of bidirectional DET-type reactions, from a cross-disciplinary viewpoint.