Roadmap towards solar fuel synthesis at the water interface of liposome membranes

Abstract

This tutorial review describes the physical–chemical aspects one must consider when building photocatalytic liposomes for solar fuel production.

Shorter Alkyl Chains Enhance Molecular Diffusion and Electron Transfer Kinetics between Photosensitisers and Catalysts in CO2‐Reducing Photocatalytic Liposomes

“…Artificial photosynthesis has recognised potential to produce fuels in a sustainable way from earth‐abundant resources such as water, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and sunlight [1] . In an artificial photosynthetic system, two half‐reactions, such as water oxidation and CO 2 reduction, have to be combined, which requires control of light harvesting by photosensitisers, electron relays, and electron transfer to and from catalysts [1] .…”

Supramolecular chemistry in lipid bilayer membranes

“…34,35 Initial progress in developing entirely artificial systems has focused on using photosensitising coordination complexes immobilised within the membrane to promote photo-catalyst-mediated reactions. [36][37][38][39] For example, the membrane confinement of catalytic ruthenium complexes enables highly efficient photocatalytic water oxidation, at much lower concentrations of catalyst than in homogeneous solution. 36 The highest turnover numbers (TONs) were obtained in gel phase lipids, suggesting that clustering and limited dynamic mobility enhances photocatalytic activity.…”

Electrochemical Activity Produced from Abundant Expression of C‐Type Cytochromes in a Filamentous Gram‐Positive Bacterium

“…Electron transport systems of natural microbes for photosynthesis, respiration, and transformation of N, S, and Fe provide a rich pool of redox chemistry that inspired bioelectrochemical applications. For typical examples, microbial cells or redox enzyme clusters have been engineered with the electrodes for chemical synthesis, [1] electronic sensing of toxic compounds, [2] construction of artificial photosynthetic systems, [3] and microbial element sequestration. [4] Molecular composition and working mechanism of the natural electron transport systems that localized at the cytoplasmic membrane (CM) of microbial cells have been well studied in the past decades, [5] laying the foundation for the development of early bioelectrochemical technologies.…”