Bio‐Organometallic Systems for the Hydrogen Economy: Engineering of Electrode Materials and Light‐Driven Devices

Hydrogen is an energy vector with great potential, and the large-scale development of hydrogen technologies currently relies on the catalytic properties of noble metals, making them both unsustainable and economically questionable. Alternative catalytic materials can be derived from hydrogenase enzymes or bio-inspired molecular catalysts mimicking either the structure of their active site or their functioning. In this chapter, we describe how surface science and nanotechnologies provide means to produce biological and bio-inspired types of noble metal-free electrode materials for implementation in electrolyzers and fuel cells. We also show how the combination of H2-evolving catalysts with light-harvesting centers, as part of the artificial photosynthesis approach, can provide a solution to the energetic transition toward a solar fuel-based economy.