Beyond water splitting: Artificial photosynthesis for organic chemistry applications

Artificial Photosynthesis aims at converting solar energy into chemical energy, by transforming abundant and cheap small molecules, standing at the bottom of the energy scale, into highly energetic valuable chemicals. Many efforts have been dedicated to target the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen; nowadays, photosynthesis is being considered also to target organic transformations. In this chapter, we will provide some examples of these processes, with key reactions being the oxidation of alcohols, the oxidative activation of C-H bonds, and the reductive fixation of carbon dioxide. We will provide examples of technologies applied to these reactions, including photoelectrodes, photoelectrochemical cells, nanoparticulate photocatalysts. In the case of carbon dioxide fixation, we will describe also some cases of dark electrochemical processes.