Spatial charge separation achieved on the anisotropic facets of high symmetry SrTiO3 nanocrystals for highly efficient photocatalytic overall water splitting.

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Supportinginformation and the ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under: https://doi.

Fundamentals of water electrolysis, and recent research progress and trends in the development of earth-abundant first-row transition-metal (Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu)-based oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution (HER) electrocatalysts working in acidic, alkaline, or neutral conditions are reviewed. The HER catalysts include mainly metal chalcogenides, metal phosphides, metal nitrides, and metal carbides. As for the OER catalysts, the basic principles of the OER catalysts in alkaline, acidic, and neutral media are introduced, followed by the review and discussion of the Ni, Co, Fe, Mn, and perovskite-type OER catalysts developed so far. The different design principles of the OER catalysts in photoelectrocatalysis and photocatalysis systems are also presented. Finally, the future research directions of electrocatalysts for water splitting, and coupling of photovoltaic (PV) panel with a water electrolyzer, so called PV-E, are given as perspectives.

The key to phase junctions for efficient charge separation is to consider both the phase alignment and interface structure.

Flexible and biocompatible integrated photo‐charging devices consisting of photovoltaic cells and energy storage units can provide an independent power supply for next‐generation wearable electronics or biomedical devices. However, current flexible integrated devices exhibit low total energy conversion and storage efficiency and large device thickness, hindering their applicability towards efficient and stable self‐powered systems. Here, a highly efficient and ultra‐thin photo‐charging device with a total efficiency approaching 6% and a thickness below 50 µm is reported, prepared by integrating 3‐µm‐thick organic photovoltaics on 40 µm‐thick carbon nanotube/polymer‐based supercapacitors. This flexible photo‐charging capacitor delivers much higher performance compared with previous reports by tuning the electrochemical properties of the composite electrodes, which reduce the device thickness to 1/8 while improving the total efficiency by 15%. The devices also exhibit a superior operational stability (over 96% efficiency retention after 100 charge/discharge cycles for one week) and mechanical robustness (94.66% efficiency retention after 5000 times bending at a radius of around 2 mm), providing a high‐power and long‐term operational energy source for flexible and wearable electronics.

Converting sunlight to solar fuels by artificial photosynthesis is an innovative science and technology for renewable energy. Light harvesting, photogenerated charge separation and transfer (CST), and catalytic reactions are the three primary steps in the processes involved in the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy (SE‐CE). Among the processes, CST is the key “energy pump and delivery” step in determining the overall solar‐energy conversion efficiency. Efficient CST is always high priority in designing and assembling artificial photosynthesis systems for solar‐fuel production. This Review not only introduces the fundamental strategies for CST but also the combinatory application of these strategies to five types of the most‐investigated semiconductor‐based artificial photosynthesis systems: particulate, Z‐scheme, hybrid, photoelectrochemical, and photovoltaics‐assisted systems. We show that artificial photosynthesis systems with high SE‐CE efficiency can be rationally designed and constructed through combinatory application of these strategies, setting a promising blueprint for the future of solar fuels.

Supportinginformation and the ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under: https://doi.