Artificial Photosynthesis: Celebrating over 100 Years of Giacomo Ciamician's Legacy
A special issue of Chemistry (ISSN 2624-8549). This special issue belongs to the section "Photochemistry and Excited States".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 April 2026 | Viewed by 52
Special Issue Editors
Interests: photoreactor design; photoactive materials; accumulation of solar energy; CO2 photoreduction; photocatalyzed H2 production; water splitting from solar energy; biomass exploitation; environmental and economic sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: photocatalysis; heterogeneous catalysis; process design; valorization of renewable raw materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
"On the arid lands there will spring up industrial colonies without smoke and without smokestacks; forests of glass tubes will extend over the plains and glass buildings will rise under the deserts; inside of these will take place the photochemical processes that hitherto have been the guarded secret of the plants, but that will have been mastered by human industry"
—— Giacomo Ciamician, Scientia (1912)
One century after the passing of Giacomo Ciamician (1857–1922), we honor the visionary Italian chemist who first conceived the radical idea of artificial photosynthesis. His seminal 1912 paper "The Photochemistry of the Future" prophetically envisioned converting sunlight into storable chemical fuels—a concept that ignited a century of scientific exploration.
This Special Issue commemorates Ciamician’s enduring legacy by showcasing innovative advances across three generations of research:
- Molecular photoelectrochemistry bridging natural/enzymatic mechanisms;
- Heterogeneous photocatalytic systems for CO2 reduction and water splitting;
- Hybrid bio-nano architectures that push the boundaries of efficiency.
The works presented in this Special Issue will not only reflect the foundational principles laid by pioneers, but also map emerging advances in the generation of solar fuel. As we stand at the threshold of scalable renewable energy solutions, we dedicate this volume to Ciamician’s immortal question: "Is fossil sunlight the only one that can be used?"— an inquiry more urgent today than ever before.
Prof. Dr. Gianguido Ramis
Prof. Dr. Ilenia Rossetti
Dr. Shuang Jiang
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- artificial photosynthesis
- solar energy conversion
- photoelectrochemistry
- photocatalysis
- photocatalytic water splitting
- CO2 photoreduction
- photosynthesis of complex molecules
- photoreactors
- bio-nano architectures
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