Water electrolysis and photoelectrolysis on electrodes engineered using biological and bio-inspired molecular systems

Abstract

Photoelectrocatalytic cells for water splitting should combine one or two photosensitive units with a water oxidation catalyst at the anode and a hydrogen evolution catalyst at the cathode. In this perspective article, we first show how a chemist can take the naturally occurring multi-electron catalysts for these two electro- and photochemical reactions, photosystem II and hydrogenases, as a source of inspiration for the design of original, efficient and robust molecular catalysts. The focus of this article is given to the immobilisation of these natural or bio-inspired catalysts onto conducting surfaces and the design of electrode and photoelectrode materials for hydrogen evolution/uptake and water oxidation.