Bioelectrocatalysis provides access to sustainable and highly efficient technological applications. However, several limitations related either to the intrinsic properties of the biocatalyst or to technical difficulties still hamper or even prevent the integration of such devices into technologically relevant large-scale processes. In this Review, we challenge the common viewpoint suggesting biology-based catalytic systems as a promising approach for the provision of sustainable stored energy and discuss the status of bioelectrocatalytic devices developed for energy conversion. In particular, we focus on two major research areas in the field, that is, H₂-powered hydrogenase-based biofuel cells and biophotoelectrodes for solar energy harvesting. We identify the main limitations that have to be addressed to gain access to applied large-scale bio-based and bio-inspired advanced energy conversion systems. Moreover, we show recent examples and milestones that are paving the way towards potential realization of these technologies by overcoming existing limiting factors.

生物电催化提供了可持续和高效技术应用的途径。然而，与生物催化剂的固有性质或技术难题相关的若干限制仍然阻碍或什至阻止这种装置集成到技术上相关的大规模工艺中。在这篇综述中，我们挑战了基于生物学的催化系统作为提供可持续存储能量的有前途的方法的观点，并讨论了为能量转换而开发的生物电催化装置的现状。特别是，我们专注于该领域的两个主要研究领域，即H ₂动力的基于氢化酶的生物燃料电池和生物光电极，以收集太阳能。我们确定要获得应用的大规模生物基和生物启发式先进能量转换系统所必须解决的主要限制。此外，我们展示了最新的示例和里程碑，这些示例和里程碑通过克服现有的限制因素，为潜在实现这些技术铺平了道路。