A protective shell on the surface of Chlorella cells promotes long-term stable production of hydrogen

The Chlorella cells exhibit excellent application potential in the field of environmental governance and bioenergy development. By selecting a bionic coating on the cell surface, it is possible to significantly enhance the cells' viability and stability within polluted environments. In this study, we employed catechol to induce the native Chlorella cells and Tannic acid (TA)-Fe3+@laccase coated cells to produce hydrogen. This protective coating effectively shielded the cells from external stressors, enhancing their tolerance in alkaline environments and higher substrate concentrations, ensuring long-term stable hydrogen production, achieving a 1.7-fold increase compared to the native cell hydrogen production in 7 days (Optical density, OD750 = 2.5). Meanwhile, the degradation rate of catechol and the accumulation of biomass were also improved, and the accumulation of biomass increased by 8%. This strategy is expected to provide new solutions and possibilities for utilizing environmental pollutants to produce clean energy. By selecting a protective coating on the Chlorella cell surface, it is possible to effectively enhance their tolerance in alkaline environments and higher substrate catechol concentrations, ensuring long-term stable hydrogen production. [Display omitted] •Catechol induced hydrogen production from Chlorella and coated cells, achieving the utilization of pollutants as a resource.•The protective effect of the TA-Fe3+@laccase shell enabled long-term stable hydrogen production from the coated cells.•The bionic shell enhanced the utilization of catechin and bicarbonate by Chlorella cells, increasing biomass accumulation.