This article presents an overview of our research in the field of colloidal nanocrystal synthesis and their implementation into water splitting and CO2 reduction electrochemical cells. We discuss our approaches to tailormade novel material platforms to advance our knowledge in energy storage in chemical bonds, namely artificial photosynthesis. Herein, we focus on complex metal oxides as light absorbers to drive water splitting, nanocrystal hybrids and metals as electrocatalysts for carbon dioxide conversion. Our approach to solve the synthetic challenges so to achieve very precise control on size, shape and composition of such materials is highlighted.