Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7JE, UK.
State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, China.
Chem Soc Rev. 2017 Jul 31;46(15):4645-4660. doi: 10.1039/c6cs00306k.
It is widely accepted within the community that to achieve a sustainable society with an energy mix primarily based on solar energy we need an efficient strategy to convert and store sunlight into chemical fuels. A photoelectrochemical (PEC) device would therefore play a key role in offering the possibility of carbon-neutral solar fuel production through artificial photosynthesis. The past five years have seen a surge in the development of promising semiconductor materials. In addition, low-cost earth-abundant co-catalysts are ubiquitous in their employment in water splitting cells due to the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). This review commences with a fundamental understanding of semiconductor properties and charge transfer processes in a PEC device. We then describe various configurations of PEC devices, including single light-absorber cells and multi light-absorber devices (PEC, PV-PEC and PV/electrolyser tandem cell). Recent progress on both photoelectrode materials (light absorbers) and electrocatalysts is summarized, and important factors which dominate photoelectrode performance, including light absorption, charge separation and transport, surface chemical reaction rate and the stability of the photoanode, are discussed. Controlling semiconductor properties is the primary concern in developing materials for solar water splitting. Accordingly, strategies to address the challenges for materials development in this area, such as the adoption of smart architectures, innovative device configuration design, co-catalyst loading, and surface protection layer deposition, are outlined throughout the text, to deliver a highly efficient and stable PEC device for water splitting.
在这个社群中，人们普遍认为，要实现以太阳能为主要能源的可持续社会，我们需要一种有效的策略，将阳光转化并储存为化学燃料。因此，光电化学（PEC）装置将在通过人工光合作用生产碳中性太阳能燃料方面发挥关键作用。在过去的五年中，有前途的半导体材料的发展突飞猛进。此外，由于析氧反应（OER）动力学缓慢，在水分解电池中普遍使用低成本的地球丰富共催化剂。这篇综述从对 PEC 装置中半导体性质和电荷转移过程的基本理解开始。然后，我们描述了各种 PEC 装置的配置，包括单光吸收器电池和多光吸收器装置（PEC、PV-PEC 和 PV/电解槽串联电池）。总结了光电电极材料（光吸收器）和电催化剂的最新进展，并讨论了主导光电电极性能的重要因素，包括光吸收、电荷分离和传输、表面化学反应速率以及光阳极的稳定性。控制半导体性质是开发用于太阳能水分解的材料的主要关注点。因此，在整个文本中概述了应对该领域材料开发挑战的策略，例如采用智能结构、创新的器件结构设计、共催化剂负载和表面保护层沉积，以提供高效稳定的用于水分解的 PEC 装置。
