Researchers have developed an electrochemical system that continuously forms, moves, and destroys molecular compartments known as coacervates without producing chemical waste, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
Previous efforts to drive coacervates out of equilibrium relied on exergonic chemical reactions. Those approaches faced operational limits because chemical byproducts accumulated over time. To avoid waste generation, the research team used an electric potential as the primary energy source in a two-electrode setup.
Inside the two-electrode system, the oxidation of a cysteine-containing peptide increases its multivalency at the anode. This change triggers complexation and drives coacervate formation directly on the electrode surface. Once formed electrochemically, the coacervates migrate across the cell toward the cathode through electrophoresis.
At the cathode, electrocatalytic reduction dissolves the incoming droplets. Because the electrochemical reactions generate no chemical waste, the out-of-equilibrium process reaches a steady state. In this state, coacervate droplets continuously assemble at the anode, travel across the solution, and break down at the cathode simultaneously across different regions of the cell for extended periods without decaying.
The study was authored by Svetlana Samokhvalova, Kalliopi Fourli, Sayed Suliman Shah, Malak Rafieq Jaber, and Guillermo Monreal Santiago. The research was conducted at the University of Strasbourg and CNRS in France alongside IMDEA-Nanociencia in Madrid, Spain.
