Issue 10, 2022

Bridging electrocatalyst and cocatalyst studies for solar hydrogen production via water splitting

Abstract

Solar-driven water-splitting has been considered as a promising technology for large-scale generation of sustainable energy for succeeding generations. Recent intensive efforts have led to the discovery of advanced multi-element-compound water-splitting electrocatalysts with very small overpotentials in anticipation of their application to solar cell-assisted water electrolysis. Although photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water-splitting systems are more attractive approaches for scaling up without much technical complexity and high investment costs, improving their efficiencies remains a huge challenge. Hybridizing photocatalysts or photoelectrodes with cocatalysts has been an effective scheme to enhance their overall solar energy conversion efficiencies. However, direct integration of highly-active electrocatalysts as cocatalysts introduces critical factors that require careful consideration. These additional requirements limit the design principle for cocatalysts compared with electrocatalysts, decelerating development of cocatalyst materials. This perspective first summarizes the recent advances in electrocatalyst materials and the effective strategies to assemble cocatalyst/photoactive semiconductor composites, and further discusses the core principles and tools that hold the key in designing advanced cocatalysts and generating a deeper understanding on how to further push the limits of water-splitting efficiency.

Graphical abstract: Bridging electrocatalyst and cocatalyst studies for solar hydrogen production via water splitting

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
31 Okt 2021
Accepted
31 Jan 2022
First published
08 Feb 2022
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 2824-2840

Bridging electrocatalyst and cocatalyst studies for solar hydrogen production via water splitting

M. Saruyama, C. M. Pelicano and T. Teranishi, Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 2824 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC06015E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements