Abstract

A key societal challenge of our century is to secure and harness environmentally sustainable energy supplies. An attractive approach to this issue is the production of ‘solar fuels’ through a process known as artificial photosynthesis. This technology is inspired by natural photosynthesis and aims to use sunlight as the energy source to generate a renewable fuel such as hydrogen or ‘green gasoline’ from water and the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Solar fuel synthesis thereby addresses important elements of the current energy challenge such as sustainability, security of supply and energy storage. This lecture will give an overview of the prospects of artificial photosynthesis and discuss some of the many fundamental science and engineering approaches that are currently being pursued on the road to a fossil-fuel free economy.