Hydrogen and catalysis : from algae to nanomaterials

Oxygenic photosynthesis enables plants to use solar energy to reduce carbon dioxide and produce biomass. Some micro-algae or bacteria have even developed a variant of this process, enabling them to produce hydrogen thanks to a specific and highly efficient enzyme, hydrogenase. However, while hydrogen is a high-energy mass gas that could be the ideal fuel for a post-oil economy, there are still many scientific and technological hurdles to overcome, particularly when it comes to producing it from renewable resources. We will show how chemists can draw inspiration from the way biological systems work to develop new catalysts or photocatalysts to produce hydrogen without recourse to noble metals such as platinum.