Photovoltaic Materials as Heterogeneous Photocatalysts: A Golden Opportunity for Sustainable Organic Syntheses

Light absorption by semiconducting materials generates electrons and holes subsequent to charge separation, which is at the core of two different applications: 1) photovoltaics and 2) photocatalysis, intended to generate electric current or to trigger redox events, respectively. Recent developments in photovoltaic applications have been impressive, owing to the introduction of innovative and more efficient materials. This brief review describes recent examples to demonstrate the relative high performance of photovoltaic materials that have been exploited in photocatalytic synthetic applications. These include redox processes (net oxidations and reductions), C-C bond formation, and manipulation of cyclic structures. Although several benchmark reactions have been explored routinely, a recent trend highlights the development of ground-breaking synthetic applications, which demonstrate the importance of converting such highly performing materials from the photovoltaic into the photocatalytic field.