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.