Solar fuels articles from across Nature Portfolio

Solar fuels synthesis is a promising technology for net-zero chemicals production, but capacity is inherently tied to area, and water is often required as a reagent, making land-based deployment costly. This Perspective examines floating designs for scaling solar chemical pathways for a bright future on open water.

A photocatalytic synthetic route to deuterated N-heteroarenes over an atomically dispersed palladium photocatalyst in D₂O is developed. By recycling used D₂O and photocatalyst, up to 1.157 kg of deuterated N-heteroarenes can be obtained using only 4.5 litres of D₂O (19.7 equiv.).

Solar fuel technologies share common working principles of light absorption and charge separation, yet their operating conditions can vary greatly. This Perspective examines key performance metrics and outlines a transversal vision of how these technologies could help to accelerate each other development.

Many hydrogen applications require gas delivered under pressure. Here, the authors report that solar water-splitting devices can operate at up to 8 bar and show that the performance gains from elevated pressure depends critically on the choice of materials and device configuration.

This study reports a metal-encapsulated PbS quantum dot photoanode that delivers high photocurrent and long-term stability for PEC water splitting without sacrificial agents, advancing sustainable clean energy.

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction in acidic media offers a promising route for CO₂ valorization but faces challenges owing to competing hydrogen evolution and sluggish C–C coupling. Here the authors demonstrate that surface-adsorbed iodide ions enhance performance on Cu-based catalysts, doubling ethylene selectivity and reducing overpotentials.

Photocatalytic conversion of CO₂ typically requires a concentrated gas stream, making direct conversion of atmospheric CO₂ to value-added products a challenge. Now, researchers report a photocatalytic reactor to produce useful molecules directly from air-captured CO₂ using solar energy.

Electrolytic hydrogen production using conventional electrocatalysts suffers from low energy efficiency, due in part to the sluggish nature of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Topological chiral semimetals are now explored to facilitate the OER by promoting spin-dependent electron transfer during the reaction.

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to fuels and chemicals is usually mediated by metal-based catalysts. Now, a carbon electrode modified with an organic molecular catalyst demonstrates promising activity and selectivity for carbon dioxide electroreduction to methane via an unusual pathway.