An Artificial Leaf\nwith Patterned Photocatalysts for\nSunlight-Driven Water Splitting

Plant leaves can turn entirely absorbed\nlight into chemical\nenergy\ndue to their spatially separated photosystems I and II in the thylakoid\nmembrane that enables unidirectional Z-scheme type charge transfer\nbetween them. In artificial systems that mimic leaves, a lack of spatial\nand interfacial control of active units (i.e., hydrogen evolution\nphotocatalyst/HEP and oxygen evolution photocatalyst/OEP) introduces\ncompetitive charge transfer channels between them, resulting in deficient\nZ-scheme type charge transfer. Herein, we demonstrate that a patterned\nphotocatalyst sheet, namely, an artificial leaf, comprising an ordered\nand separated distribution of the OEP and HEP strips on a conductive\nsubstrate, achieves unidirectional Z-scheme type charge transfer as\nthe leaves do. It represents a next-generation photocatalytic system\nthat mimics the leaves to bring breakthrough in photocatalytic over\nwater splitting performance with the combination of highly active\nHEP and OEP photocatalysts, opening up a promising avenue toward solar\nenergy conversion by artificial photosynthesis.