Research · Solar to Chemicals
Photoelectrochemistry
Why worry about increasing atmospheric CO2 levels if you could just use CO2 to make circular fuels and chemicals?
Biohybrid catalysis
Solar fuels
CO₂ conversion
Our approach
Running electrodes with no bias
The sustainable utilisation of the greenhouse gas CO2 represents a key step towards accomplishing a circular carbon economy. To address this goal, we interface light absorbers with suitable catalysts for the light-driven conversion of CO2 to value-added chemicals, including CO, formate, methane, or liquid multicarbon products.
Our research covers various facets of CO2 conversion, from fundamental studies on electrocatalytic surface-bound interactions, to applied research on device integration and upscaling. Molecular catalysts are immobilised onto nanostructured metal oxide, lead halide perovskite, and silicon semiconductors to promote highly-selective CO2 conversion in both aqueous and organic media. Spectroelectrochemical studies on those (photo)electrodes uncover mechanistic insights into optimal catalyst loading and selectivity.
Synthetic catalysts are functionalised with a variety of anchor groups to enable photocatalysis in colloidal systems involving quantum dot, carbon nitride and carbon dot nanoparticles. Photoelectrochemical “artificial leaf” devices and particulate photocatalyst sheets are being developed to probe the stability and scalability of our systems, taking practical aspects as variable daylight conditions and day-night cycles into account. Overall, our efforts strive towards establishing solar carbon fuels as a competitive alternative to fossil fuels in the future.
Selected work
Recent publications
A selection of recent studies spanning biohybrid catalysis, artificial leaves and scalable solar-fuel generation.
Stabilizing Carbon Nitride Photoanodes for Unassisted Alcohol Reforming Coupled to CO2 Reduction under Concentrated Sunlight
Pulignani, C.; Mohamad Annuar, A. B.; Cobb, S. J.; Rahaman, M.; Liu, Y.; Han, C.; Rogolino, A.; Bhattacharjee, S.; Reisner, E. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026, 148, 12839–12848.
Semi-artificial leaf interfacing organic semiconductors and enzymes for solar chemical synthesis
Yeung, C. W. S.; Liu, Y.; Vahey, D. M.; Cobb, S. J.; Andrei, V.; Coito, A. M.; Manuel, R. R.; Pereira, I. A. C.; Reisner, E. Joule 2025, 9, 102165.
Perovskite-driven solar C2 hydrocarbon synthesis from CO2
Andrei, V.; Roh, I.; Lin, J.-A.; Lee, J.; Shan, Y.; Lin, C.-K.; Shelton, S.; Reisner, E.; Yang, P. Nature Catalysis 2025, 8, 137–146.
Modular perovskite–BiVO4 artificial leaves towards syngas synthesis on a m2 scale
Andrei, V.; Chiang, Y.-H.; Rahaman, M.; Anaya, M.; Kang, T.; Ruggeri, E.; Stranks, S. D.; Reisner, E. Energy Environ. Sci. 2025, 18, 3623–3632.
Solar-driven liquid multi-carbon fuel production using a standalone perovskite–BiVO4 artificial leaf
Rahaman, M.; Andrei, V.; Wright, D.; Lam, E.; Pornrungroj, C.; Bhattacharjee, S.; Pichler, C. M.; Greer, H. F.; Baumberg, J. J.; Reisner, E. Nature Energy 2023, 8, 629–638.
Floating perovskite–BiVO4 devices for scalable solar fuel production
Andrei, V.; Ucoski, G. M.; Pornrungroj, C.; Uswachoke, C.; Wang, Q.; Achilleos, D. S.; Kasap, H.; Sokol, K. P.; Jagt, R. A.; Lu, H.; Lawson, T.; Wagner, A.; Pike, S. D.; Wright, D. S.; Hoye, R. L. Z.; MacManus-Driscoll, J. L.; Joyce, H. J.; Friend, R. H.; Reisner, E. Nature 2022, 608, 518–522.