The Photodissociation of Water

The development of artificial photosynthesis units capable of converting solar energy into useful chemical products is still at a very preliminary stage, although some progress has been made during the last few years. Most work concerns the photodissociation of water, and this paper considers the two basic strategies that are being followed. Both of these require the use of a catalyst and, to date, platinum metal catalysts have proved to be the most efficient. With many laboratories actively investigating photodissociation, rapid progress should ensue.