Recent Advances in Light Energy Conversion with Biomimetic Vesicle Membranes

Vesicles can be used for the compartmentalization of chemical reactions and self‐assembly of reaction partners. This minireview highlights recent advances in biomimetic and light‐induced energy conversions with liposomes and polymersomes, relevant in the context of energy transfer, electron transfer, photocatalysis and artificial photosynthesis. Lipid bilayer membranes are ubiquitous in natural chemical conversions. They enable self‐assembly and compartmentalization of reaction partners and it becomes increasingly evident that a thorough fundamental understanding of these concepts is highly desirable for chemical reactions and solar energy conversion with artificial systems. This minireview focusses on selected case studies from recent years, most of which were inspired by either membrane‐facilitated light harvesting or respective charge transfer. The main focus is on highly biomimetic liposomes with artificial chromophores, and some cases for polymer‐membranes will be made. Furthermore, we categorized these studies into energy transfer and electron transfer, with phospholipid vesicles, and polymer membranes for light‐driven reactions.
publishedVersion