Research Update: Strategies for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting using metal oxide photoanodes
Seungho Cho,
Ji-Wook Jang,
Kun-Hong Lee,
Jae Sung Lee
Affiliations
Seungho Cho
Department of Chemistry and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), San 31, Hyoja-Dong, Nam-Gu, Pohang, Gyungbuk 790–784, South Korea
Ji-Wook Jang
Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), San 31, Hyoja-Dong, Nam-Gu, Pohang, Gyungbuk 790–784, South Korea
Kun-Hong Lee
Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), San 31, Hyoja-Dong, Nam-Gu, Pohang, Gyungbuk 790–784, South Korea
Jae Sung Lee
School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), 50 UNIST-gil, Ulsan 689–798, South Korea
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting to hydrogen is an attractive method for capturing and storing the solar energy in the form of chemical energy. Metal oxides are promising photoanode materials due to their low-cost synthetic routes and higher stability than other semiconductors. In this paper, we provide an overview of recent efforts to improve PEC efficiencies via applying a variety of fabrication strategies to metal oxide photoanodes including (i) size and morphology-control, (ii) metal oxide heterostructuring, (iii) dopant incorporation, (iv) attachments of quantum dots as sensitizer, (v) attachments of plasmonic metal nanoparticles, and (vi) co-catalyst coupling. Each strategy highlights the underlying principles and mechanisms for the performance enhancements.
