Bioinspiration toward efficient photosynthetic systems: From biohybrids to biomimetics

Mimicking the natural photosynthetic process, the artificial photosynthesis for CO 2 conversion based on chemical photocatalyst has depicted an excellent blueprint for achieving artificial carbon cycle. However, the current artificial chemical photocatalysts do not have the upper hand in biological systems regarding the activity and selectivity for conversion of CO 2 to multi-carbon products. In this regard, natural photosynthesis could offer numerous sources of bioinspiration for artificial chemical photocatalysts to solve their bottlenecks. In this perspective, we highlight the recent successes in this emerging field to show the development of bioinspired photosynthetic systems from semi-artificial photosynthetic biohybrids to biomimetic photocatalytic systems. Meanwhile, the common fundamentals behind various designed biohybrids and biomimetic systems are elucidated. Toward future development, we discuss the challenges and opportunities in the research field. Challenges and opportunities: The union of biology and photocatalysis has shown the great success and even greater potential of bioinspiration in artificial photosynthesis. The biohybrid and biomimetic systems can overcome the limitations of both natural and artificial photosynthesis, offering unparalleled opportunities for learning from nature and surpassing nature. Deep understanding and precise manipulating of the biotic-abiotic interface is a key challenge. The interface between synthetic materials and biological components needs rationally optimizing to ensure efficient charge transfer and fine biocompatibility. Using synthetic biology and chemistry to mimic enzymes and construct an artificial photosynthetic cell factory is still challenging; however, the implementation of bioinspiration would allow unprecedented successes in achieving artificial photosynthesis. The bioinspired photosynthetic system enables the full power of natural photosynthesis to be exploited, and to finally achieve the goal of “from nature, beyond nature”. This perspective highlights the recent successes in this emerging field to show the development of bioinspired photosynthetic systems from semi-artificial photosynthetic biohybrids to biomimetic photocatalytic systems, as well as proposing opportunities and shedding light on the challenges.