Subsequently, he joined the group of Erwin Reisner as a postdoctoral researcher working on artificial photosynthetic self-assembled molecular systems.Ĭarla Casadevall obtained her PhD degree in chemistry in 2019 at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) under the guidance of Prof. After his PhD, he worked in the same group as a postdoctoral research fellow focusing on the synthesis and electrode immobilisation of molecular hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts. Sally Brooker, where he worked on the design and synthesis of spin-switching iron complexes for chemo-sensing applications. Santiago Rodríguez-Jiménez obtained his PhD in chemistry at the University of Otago under the supervision of Prof. His research focuses on photoactive metal complexes in biological and biomimetic environments, with particular interest in photocatalysis at lipid bilayers, upconversion, and light-activated metallodrugs.įrom left to right: Santiago Rodríguez-Jiménez, Carla Casadevall and Erwin Reisner

Sylvestre Bonnet is Professor for bioinorganic chemistry at Leiden University. His work focusses on the design of liposomes functionalised for artificial photosynthetic purposes, such as transmembrane electron transfer and photocatalytic water splitting. He is currently working as a PhD in the laboratory of Sylvestre Bonnet at Leiden University supported by an HRSMC fellowship. Klein received his BSc's degree in Molecular Science & Technology from the University of Leiden and Delft in 2015 and his MSc's degree in Chemistry in 2017 from the University of Leiden. Klein (left) and Sylvestre Bonnet (right)ĭavid M.

In 2020 she started her independent career as assistant professor for Inorganic Chemistry and Energy Conversion at Ulm University with a major interest in photochemical conversions at membrane interfaces.ĭavid M. She pursued her postdoctoral studies together with Sylvestre Bonnet at Leiden University in the Netherlands, partly supported by an Early Postdoc. Her PhD studies with Oliver Wenger focused on light-induced proton-coupled electron transfer. Together with a list of experimental techniques for the characterisation of photoactive liposomes, this article provides the reader with a roadmap towards photocatalytic fuel production at the interface of lipid membranes and aqueous media.Īndrea Pannwitz studied chemistry at the Georg-August-University Göttingen in Germany and obtained her PhD in 2017 at the University of Basel in Switzerland. Key features to consider for the use of liposomes in solar fuel synthesis are highlighted, including the understanding of the orientation and binding of different components along the membrane, the controlled electron transport between the reaction centres, and the generation of proton gradients as driving force. In this review, we provide an overview of approaches and considerations to construct a (semi)artificial liposome for solar fuel production. However, the fundamental principles governing the supramolecular assemblies of lipids and photoactive surfactant-like molecules in membranes, are intricate, and mastering membrane-supported photochemistry requires thorough understanding of the science behind liposomes. This approach, already investigated in the 1980s, offers in principle a promising platform for solar fuel synthesis. Recently, there has been a surge of bio-inspired photosynthetic assemblies that use liposomes as nanocompartments to confine reaction spaces and enable vectorial charge transport across membranes. Conceptual advances of solar fuel systems have been inspired by improved understanding of natural photosynthesis and its key operational principles: (a) light harvesting, (b) charge separation, (c) directional proton and electron transport between reaction centres and across membranes, (d) water oxidation and (e) proton or CO 2 reduction catalysis. Artificial photosynthesis has experienced rapid developments aimed at producing photocatalytic systems for the synthesis of chemical energy carriers.

Second extinction roadmap 2021