In recent years, one of the most important challenges of the 21st century is to satisfy the ever-increasing world’s energy demand. Many efforts are being undertaken to find alternative renewable energy sources, which ideally should outcompete fossil fuel use in all its aspects. In this respect, photo-assisted microbial bioelectrochemical cells (MBECs) in which the reduction of water to hydrogen takes place have been of considerable interest in recent years. Two categories of such systems have been investigated: MBECs with a semiconductor photocathode or photoanode, and hybrid systems, in which an MBEC cell with dark electrodes is coupled to an electrochemical photovoltaic cell. A common denominator of all these systems is the need of microorganisms at the anode, the action of which results in the generation of an electron flow by organic matter oxidation. The aim of this review is to describe the general working principles, with respect to both biochemical and electrochemical aspects, and the performance of various categories of hydrogen-generating photo-assisted MBECs.

近年来，21 世纪最重要的挑战之一是满足不断增长的世界能源需求。许多努力正在寻找替代的可再生能源，理想情况下，这些能源应该在各个方面都胜过化石燃料的使用。在这方面，近年来，将水还原为氢的光辅助微生物生物电化学细胞（MBEC）引起了相当大的兴趣。已经研究了两类此类系统：具有半导体光电阴极或光电阳极的 MBEC，以及混合系统，其中具有暗电极的 MBEC 电池与电化学光伏电池耦合。所有这些系统的一个共同点是阳极需要微生物，其作用导致有机物氧化产生电子流。本综述的目的是描述一般工作原理，包括生化和电化学方面，以及各类产氢光辅助 MBEC 的性能。