Semi-Synthetic Responsive Matrices for Artificial Photosynthesis

Around the world, large-scale deployment of wind and solar energy to generate renewable electricity is expected. However, to achieve a zero-carbon energy system, the world will need more than intermittent electricity. It will continue to rely massively on fuel for certain applications, such as heavy transport, aviation and iron ore reduction, and a long-term dependence on hydrocarbons is likely. Thus, the case for research and development into the field of artificial photosynthesis — systems to directly convert solar energy into fuel without oil or biomass intermediate — is strong. Furthermore, artificial photosynthesis, in contrast to other solar-to-fuel technologies, has the potential to be deployed in a small- scale, decentralized fashion. We have a vision of artificial photosynthesis becoming a common technology, and a significant contributor to the future energy resource mix. Although artificial photosynthesis is still a scientific challenge, all aspects of its deployment in urban environments, such as energy and resource/material availability, ecofriendliness and effi- ciency, and pathways from niche application to large-scale implementa- tion and approval will need to be investigated. In this chapter, we present a roadmap for the development of “next-generation” artificial photosyn- thesis devices.