Issue 7, 2016

Recent advances in dye-sensitized semiconductor systems for photocatalytic hydrogen production

Abstract

Photocatalytic water splitting by solar light has received tremendous attention for the production of clean and renewable hydrogen energy from water. Some challenges still remain in improving the solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency, such as utilizing longer-wavelength photons and enhancing the photocatalytic activity and stability of H2 production over semiconducting materials. Dye sensitization, as a successful strategy for extending the spectral responsive region (even to near-IR light) of wide bandgap semiconductors for H2 production, was developed more than 30 years ago, but it still lacks the corresponding specialized review. This review emphasizes especially the fundamental aspects and the research advances in heterogeneous dye-sensitized semiconductor suspension systems for visible (and even near-IR) light responsive photocatalytic H2 production, and the commonly used dyes, semiconductors, co-catalysts and electron donors are systematically discussed. Also, a short perspective on the challenges and new directions in this field is proposed, which would be of great interest in the field of solar fuel conversion.

Graphical abstract: Recent advances in dye-sensitized semiconductor systems for photocatalytic hydrogen production

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
05 Nov 2015
Accepted
15 Dec 2015
First published
17 Dec 2015

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016,4, 2365-2402

Author version available

Recent advances in dye-sensitized semiconductor systems for photocatalytic hydrogen production

X. Zhang, T. Peng and S. Song, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 2365 DOI: 10.1039/C5TA08939E

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