Emergent CuWO₄ Photoanodes for Solar Fuel Production: Recent Progress and Perspectives

Abstract

Solar fuel production using a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell is considered as an effective solution to address the climate change caused by CO2 emissions, as well as the ever-growing global demand for energy. Like all other solar energy utilization technologies, the PEC cell requires a light absorber that can efficiently convert photons into charge carriers, which are eventually converted into chemical energy. The light absorber used as a photoelectrode determines the most important factors for PEC technology—efficiency, stability, and the cost of the system. Despite intensive research in the last two decades, there is no ideal material that satisfies all these criteria to the level that makes this technology practical. Thus, further exploration and development of the photoelectode materials are necessary, especially by finding a new promising semiconductor material with a suitable band gap and photoelectronic properties. CuWO4 (n-type, Eg = 2.3 eV) is one of those emerging materials that has favorable intrinsic properties for photo(electro)catalytic water oxidation, yet it has been receiving less attention than it deserves. Nonetheless, valuable pioneering studies have been reported for this material, proving its potential to become a significant option as a photoanode material for PEC cells. Herein, we review recent progress of CuWO4-based photoelectrodes; discuss the material’s optoelectronic properties, synthesis methods, and PEC characteristics; and finally provide perspective of its applications as a photoelectrode for PEC solar fuel production.

Keywords

• solar fuels
• photoelectrochemical cell
• photoelectrode
• copper tungstate
• water splitting