Photocatalytic Water Splitting—The Untamed Dream: A Review of Recent Advances

Photocatalytic water splitting using sunlight is a promising technology capable of providing high energy yield without pollutant byproducts. Herein, we review various aspects of this technology including chemical reactions, physiochemical conditions and photocatalyst types such as metal oxides, sulfides, nitrides, nanocomposites, and doped materials followed by recent advances in computational modeling of photoactive materials. As the best-known catalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen and oxygen evolution, TiO₂ is discussed in a separate section, along with its challenges such as the wide band gap, large overpotential for hydrogen evolution, and rapid recombination of produced electron-hole pairs. Various…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: DE-FG02-86ER13622.A000, DE-FG02-86ER13622, FG02-86ER13622, DE-FG02-, DE-FG02
• BE
  Basic Energy Sciences

  Awards: DE-FG02-86ER13622.A000, DE-FG02, DE-FG02-86ER13622