This review summarizes the recent advances in light driven catalytic H₂evolution and CO₂reduction systems towards the production of solar fuels, utilizing porphyrin or phthalocyanine derivatives.

In the design of new chromophores, with high efficiency, chemical stability and low cost materials for dye sensitized solar cells, porphyrin macrocycles could play a very important role. Their successful use in nature during photosynthesis must be the inspiration for new artificial antenna systems. Porphyrins offer an excellent platform for building such multi-chromophoric systems to self-assemble because of the availability of several substituent sites and their intrinsic spectroscopic properties. Specifically, their high absorption ability in the visible region can be extended, and electron donor and anchoring groups with high chemical affinity to the cell should be part of the new design. This review provides a summary of some of the most important developments and approaches that are used in order to improve the light collection efficiency of DSSCs based on porphyrin hybrid derivatives. For this reason we have attempted to describe the developments in the DSSCs of various porphyrin dyes with different anchoring groups linked through either meso or β-positions. Also, the influence of the anchoring groups in the cell performance is discussed. Studies containing chromophores other than porphyrin derivatives are not included in this work.

H₂ evolution in cobaloxime-based photocatalytic systems can be tuned by electronic modifications of the axial cobalt ligand or through introduction of TiO₂ nanoparticles.