It is now more than 100 years since the original proposal that a combination of sunlight and appropriate catalysts could provide both renewable energy and a means to transform carbon dioxide. It is almost 50 years since Calvin introduced the concept of an artificial leaf. Yet still, there is no large-scale industrial process that makes economic use of renewable energy to split water and produce a viable fuel on a scale worthy of major financial investment. Research into the fundamental mechanisms of applicable catalysts continues unabated, making use of operando techniques, and new procedures for atomic layer dispersion to maximise the rate of reaction at discrete catalytic centres. Here, we look at developments over the last few years concerning catalysts for water oxidation, carbon dioxide transformation and nitrogen fixation. The emphasis is not on mechanistic understanding but practical significance, thereby questioning where we stand in terms of exploiting contemporary research at the pilot-scale level.

自最初的提议到现在，已经有100多年的历史了，将阳光和适当的催化剂结合起来既可以提供可再生能源，又可以提供转化二氧化碳的方法。自加尔文（Calvin）提出人造叶子的概念以来，已有近50年的历史了。然而，仍然没有大规模的工业过程能够经济地利用可再生能源来分解水并生产出值得进行重大财政投资的可行燃料。运用操作技术和新的原子层分散程序以最大化离散催化剂中心的反应速率，继续研究适用催化剂的基本机理。在这里，我们将探讨最近几年中有关水氧化，二氧化碳转化和固氮催化剂的发展。