Artificial photosynthesis for production of hydrogen peroxide and its fuel cells

• The reducing power released from PSI is partially used to reduce O2 to produce H2O2.
• The photocatalytic production of H2O2 from H2O and O2 has been achieved.
• H2O2 is used as a fuel in one-compartment fuel cells to make electricity.

The reducing power released from photosystem I (PSI) via ferredoxin enables the reduction of NADP+ to NADPH, which is essential in the Calvin–Benson cycle to make sugars in photosynthesis. Alternatively, PSI can reduce O2 to produce hydrogen peroxide as a fuel. This article describes the artificial version of the photocatalytic production of hydrogen peroxide from water and O2 using solar energy. Hydrogen peroxide is used as a fuel in hydrogen peroxide fuel cells to make electricity. The combination of the photocatalytic H2O2 production from water and O2 using solar energy with one-compartment H2O2 fuel cells provides on-site production and usage of H2O2 as a more useful and promising solar fuel than hydrogen. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Biodesign for Bioenergetics — The design and engineering of electronc transfer cofactors, proteins and protein networks, edited by Ronald L. Koder and J.L. Ross Anderson.