Host/Guest Nanostructured Photoanodes Integrated with Targeted Enhancement Strategies for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Abstract

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen production from water splitting is a green technology that can solve the environmental and energy problems through converting solar energy into renewable hydrogen fuel. The construction of host/guest architecture in semiconductor photoanodes has proven to be an effective strategy to improve solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency dramatically. In host/guest photoanodes, the absorber layer is deposited onto a high-surface-area electron collector, resulting in a significant enhancements in light-harvesting as well as charge collection and separation efficiency. The present review aims to summarize and highlight recent state-of-the-art progresses in the architecture designing of host/guest photoanodes with integrated enhancement strategies, including i) light trapping effect; ii) optimization of conductive host scaffolds; iii) hierarchical structure engineering. The challenges and prospects for the future development of host/guest nanostructured photoanodes are also presented.

Incorporating NiCoP Cocatalyst into Hollow Rings of ZnCo-Metal–Organic Frameworks to Deliver Pt Cocatalyst like Visible Light Driven Hydrogen Evolution Activity

“…The photocatalytic performance of a semiconductor photocatalyst has been significantly improved by the integration of a cocatalyst in conjunction with the particular semiconductor photocatalyst. − Introducing a cocatalyst can significantly reduce the overpotential for water reduction and improve the H 2 production rate. Precious metals are well-known efficient cocatalysts, but the natural scarcity and higher cost limit their use in industrial applications for H 2 production .…”

Optoelectrical Regulation of CuBi2O4 Photocathode via Photonic Crystal Structure for Solar–Fuel Conversion

“…And within the onset wavelength, as the photonic bandgap becomes more closer to the optical absorption edge, the enhancement effect is more obvious. 36,37 According to the measured UV−vis spectra and calculation results, the stopband of io-CBO 200 is within the onset wavelength of CBO (∼650 nm, IPCE) and closer to 650 nm than io-CBO 100, while the io-CBO 400 is beyond it. Therefore, we can predict that the io-CBO 200 photocathode with improved light-harvesting capability would show better PEC performance than the io-CBO 100, io-CBO 400, and Planar-CBO photocathodes.…”

Host-guest assemblies for improved photothermal cancer therapy

“…They can be constructed via the manipulation of the size and noncovalent interactions (e.g., hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interaction, -interaction, hydrophobic interaction) between host and guest [15][16][17][18] . Due to their easy design, morphological diversity, stimuliresponsive property, etc., the host-guest assemblies have been broadly applied in the field of chemosensing [19,20] , catalysis [21,22] and bio-applications [23][24][25][26] . Particularly, in the area of photothermal therapy, the host-guest assemblies show multiple advantages and significantly promote the improvement of cancer treatment.…”