Finding long-term solutions to meet the growing energy demands of the human society is one of the greatest challenges of our age. Photocatalysis, a topic of many decades of attention, has recently received renewed and more intense interest in developing innovative solutions towards achieving our sustainability goal. Though immensely inspired by natural photosynthesis, the research on artificial photosynthesis is still in its early stage, and many technological challenges must be solved before it can be applied to large-scale. It has been widely recognized that it is necessary to develop advanced materials and new molecules assembled preferably from earth abundant elements as efficient photocatalysts to accomplish the complex process of solar energy driven water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction. Nanotechnology certainly plays a pivotal role in enabling a rational design of the structures, interfaces and surfaces with controllable features at a length scale comparable to chemical reactions, as shown in this Thematic Series.

See also the Thematic Series:
Electrocatalysis on the nm scale