Recent Advances in Vesicular Systems for Applications in Artificial Photosynthesis and Photocatalysis

Biological membranes orchestrate multistep chemistry creating microenvironments, enabling selective transport and separating redox reactions, principles that, when translated into artificial vesicles, can unlock powerful platforms for photocatalysis. Vesicles that emulate biological membranes emerge as a unifying platform for compartmentalized photocatalysis to minimize charge‐recombination and cross‐reactivity, key challenges of homogeneous photocatalytic systems. Liposomes, polymersomes, and hybrid vesicles can be rationally designed as bioinspired artificial nanoreactors to create tunable microenvironments allowing precise control of light absorption, charge separation, unidirectional electron and proton transport, separation of oxidation and reduction reactions, and selective synchronized catalytic processes. Rapid progress has been made, particularly with liposomes, emphasizing proof‐of‐concept energy transfer and light‐driven transformations. However, several determinants of performance, such as control of membrane permeability, stability, or transmembrane transport, remain under‐addressed. This review covers the recent advances in artificial vesicles for compartmentalized photocatalysis, comparing their properties and assembly routes, showing how their properties affect their application. Vesicles have been demonstrated for energy transfer, proton/electron transfer, light‐driven oxidation, and reduction reactions relevant to artificial photosynthesis. By integrating insights from synthetic biology, polymer chemistry, and materials science, we identify key challenges, including long‐term stability and membrane tunability, and advance design principles for the next generation of compartmentalized photocatalytic platforms.