Photoelectrocatalytic production of solar fuels with semiconductor oxides: materials, activity and modeling

Oxide photoelectrochemistry has been under continuous development over the last half century. These decades have witnessed the use of electrodes of different nature (from single crystals to nanoparticulate films), new electrode materials (including ternary and multinary transition metal oxides), and...

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Published in:Chemical communications (Cambridge, England) England), 2020-10, Vol.56 (82), p.12272-12289
Main Authors: Monllor-Satoca, Damián, Díez-García, María Isabel, Lana-Villarreal, Teresa, Gómez, Roberto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Electrode materials
Electrodes
Hydrogen evolution reactions
Hydroxides
Modelling
Oxygen evolution reactions
Photochemical reactions
Photoelectrochemistry
Photooxidation
Single crystals
Solar energy conversion
Transition metal oxides
Water splitting
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Summary:Oxide photoelectrochemistry has been under continuous development over the last half century. These decades have witnessed the use of electrodes of different nature (from single crystals to nanoparticulate films), new electrode materials (including ternary and multinary transition metal oxides), and different strategies for improving their efficiency and stability ( e.g. doping or protective layers). Although the very high initial expectations for using oxide electrodes in solar energy conversion were not fully met, substantial efforts have been devoted to reach an in-depth understanding of the processes limiting their functioning, providing firm bases for further developments. In this article, we review our main contributions in this field; in particular, we focus on the water photooxidation ( i.e. oxygen evolution reaction), water photoreduction ( i.e. hydrogen evolution reaction) and full water splitting processes (in a tandem cell) with binary and ternary oxides, including metal hydroxides as co-catalysts. We emphasize the importance of modeling and obtaining mechanistic insights and we conclude with a reflection on the main issues to be tackled in this field, which in our opinion should experience major advances in the coming years. Transition metal oxides keep on being excellent candidates as electrode materials for the photoelectrochemical conversion of solar energy into chemical energy.
ISSN:1359-7345
1364-548X
DOI:10.1039/d0cc04387g