Research progress of perovskite materials in photocatalysis- and photovoltaics-related energy conversion and environmental treatment

Meeting the growing global energy demand is one of the important challenges of the 21st century. Currently over 80% of the world's energy requirements are supplied by the combustion of fossil fuels, which promotes global warming and has deleterious effects on our environment. Moreover, fossil fuels are non-renewable energy and will eventually be exhausted due to the high consumption rate. A new type of alternative energy that is clean, renewable and inexpensive is urgently needed. Several candidates are currently available such as hydraulic power, wind force and nuclear power. Solar energy is particularly attractive because it is essentially clean and inexhaustible. A year's worth of sunlight would provide…