Research Update: Strategies for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting using metal oxide photoanodes

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting to hydrogen is an attractive method for capturing and storing the solar energy in the form of chemical energy. Metal oxides are promising photoanode materials due to their low-cost synthetic routes and higher stability than other semiconductors. In this pap...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Seungho Cho, Ji-Wook Jang, Kun-Hong Lee, Jae Sung Lee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2014-01-01
Series:APL Materials
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4861798
Description
Summary:Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting to hydrogen is an attractive method for capturing and storing the solar energy in the form of chemical energy. Metal oxides are promising photoanode materials due to their low-cost synthetic routes and higher stability than other semiconductors. In this paper, we provide an overview of recent efforts to improve PEC efficiencies via applying a variety of fabrication strategies to metal oxide photoanodes including (i) size and morphology-control, (ii) metal oxide heterostructuring, (iii) dopant incorporation, (iv) attachments of quantum dots as sensitizer, (v) attachments of plasmonic metal nanoparticles, and (vi) co-catalyst coupling. Each strategy highlights the underlying principles and mechanisms for the performance enhancements.
ISSN:2166-532X