Cai Mengke, Huang Shuai, You Yimin, Jiang Haotian, Qiu Jing, Zhang Wei, Xu Qiang, Shen Si, Hu Weiying, Deng Shijie, Li Zhuojian, Tong Xin, Song Hai-Zhi
Quantum Research Center, Southwest Institute of Technical Physics Chengdu 610041 China.
Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China Chengdu 610054 China
RSC Adv. 2025 Apr 29;15(18):13812-13824. doi: 10.1039/d5ra00179j. eCollection 2025 Apr 28.
Solar energy is the most abundant and clean energy resource for the production of hydrogen, which is inexpensive but requires robust semiconductors. Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are considered an ideal semiconductor for hydrogen production. Although light-driven hydrogen production systems have been explored for multifarious CQD-based materials and devices, a comprehensive summary on surface and interface engineering has been rarely reported. In this review, we discuss the surface and interface modification strategies for CQD-based light-driven hydrogen production and emphasize on direct light-driven hydrogen generation systems categorized into photoelectrochemical cells and photocatalysis systems. Furthermore, we describe the recent research advances in this growing field by highlighting various strategies developed for the optimization of surface and interface characteristics, such as core-shell structural design, passivation layer modification, surface ligand optimization, heterostructure construction, co-catalyst loading, and defect engineering. Finally, a future outlook on and the challenges in surface and interface regulation of CQD-based light-driven hydrogen production systems are highlighted. It is expected that this review will stimulate continued interest in harnessing the significant potential of CQDs for solar-to-hydrogen conversion.
太阳能是生产氢气最丰富且清洁的能源资源，氢气成本低廉，但需要性能强大的半导体。胶体量子点（CQD）被认为是用于制氢的理想半导体。尽管已经针对多种基于CQD的材料和器件探索了光驱动制氢系统，但关于表面和界面工程的全面综述却鲜有报道。在本综述中，我们讨论了基于CQD的光驱动制氢的表面和界面改性策略，并着重介绍了分为光电化学电池和光催化系统的直接光驱动制氢系统。此外，我们通过强调为优化表面和界面特性而开发的各种策略，如核壳结构设计、钝化层改性、表面配体优化、异质结构构建、助催化剂负载和缺陷工程，来描述这一不断发展领域的最新研究进展。最后，强调了基于CQD的光驱动制氢系统表面和界面调控的未来展望及挑战。预计本综述将激发人们继续关注利用CQD在太阳能到氢能转换方面的巨大潜力。
