I will review some of the issues dealing with the design, fabrication and characterization of novel type of nanostructured materials with enhanced optical absorption and (photo) catalytic activity. Aim of our work is to propose and develop nanocomposite materials with enhanced generation and optimized transfer of the photo-generated charge carriers. To do this we explore the electrical field phenomena (enhancement and polarization) induced by (i) optical-geometric, plasmon and Förster-type resonances in and between metal, semiconductor and carbon nanoparticles and (ii) the E-field phenomena of interfacial charge separation and trapping due to band bending at Schottky and heterojunctions of the composite systems. Specifically, we target development of new carbon- (graphene-) based photo electrodes for photo-electro-catalytic water splitting and transparent but conductive coatings for photovoltaics.