Progress, challenge and perspective of heterogeneous photocatalysts

There is increasing interest in developing artificial systems that can mimic natural photosynthesis to directly harvest and convert solar energy into usable or storable energy resources. Photocatalysis, in which solar photons are used to drive redox reactions to produce chemical fuel, is the central process to achieve this goal. Despite significant efforts to date, a practically viable photocatalyst with sufficient efficiency, stability and low cost is yet to be demonstrated. It is often difficult to simultaneously achieve these different performance metrics with a single material component. The heterogeneous photocatalysts with multiple integrated functional components could combine the advantages of…