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Updated: Dec 18, 2025

Integrating a Triplet-triplet Annihilation Up-conversion System to Enhance Dye-sensitized Solar Cell Response to Sub-bandgap Light
Published on: September 12, 2014
Semi-biological approaches to solar-to-chemical conversion
Xin Fang1, Shafeer Kalathil, Erwin Reisner
1Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK. reisner@ch.cam.ac.uk.
Abstract:
This review presents a comprehensive summary of the recent development in semi-artificial photosynthesis, a biological-material hybrid approach to solar-to-chemical conversion that provides new concepts to shape a sustainable future fuelled by solar energy. We begin with a brief introduction to natural and artificial photosynthesis, followed by a discussion of the motivation and rationale behind semi-artificial photosynthesis. Then, we summarise how various enzymes can be combined with synthetic materials for light-driven water oxidation, H2 evolution, CO2 reduction, and chemical synthesis more broadly. In the following section, we discuss the strategies to incorporate microorganisms in photocatalytic and (photo)electrochemical systems to produce fuels and chemicals with renewable sources. Finally, we outline emerging analytical techniques to study the bio-material hybrid systems and propose unexplored research opportunities in the field of semi-artificial photosynthesis.
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