Recent progress of tungsten- and molybdenum-based semiconductor materials for solar-hydrogen production

Abstract

Semiconductor-based solar water splitting is regarded as one of the most promising technologies for clean hydrogen production. The rational design of semiconductor materials is critically important to achieve high solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiencies towards practical applications. A rich family of tungsten-and molybdenum-based materials have been developed as both photocatalysts and cocatalysts for solar-hydrogen production in the past years, providing more opportunities to achieve high solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiencies. In this review article, we comprehensively review the recent progress of tungsten-and molybdenum-based materials for solar-hydrogen production. In particular, the strengths and drawbacks of each material system are critically discussed, followed by an overview of the emerging strategies to improve their performances. Finally, the key challenges and possible research directions of tungsten-and molybdenum-based materials are presented, which would provide useful information for the design of efficient semiconductor materials for solar-hydrogen production.

Two-Dimensional Sb Modified TiO2 Nanorod Arrays as Photoanodes for Efficient Solar Water Splitting

“…Compared to the TNRAs photoanode, the 2D Sb (4 mg)/TNRAs photoanode shows a higher photo-potential value, indicating a higher capability of separating electron-hole pairs with a lower recombination rate. The enhanced photo-potential value is due to the formed heterostructure between the 2D Sb and TNRAs, which facilitates carrier separation [ 56 , 57 ].…”

Development of ABO4‐type photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting

“…Since CuWO 4 has a narrow bandgap and can absorb most of the visible spectrum, it has remarkable application prospects. Nevertheless, the poor charge separation of bulk CuWO 4 limits the development due to the short charge diffusion length of 30 nm and low charge carrier mobility of 0.006 cm 2 V −1 s −1 303 . Several strategies have been developed to suppress the recombination of photogenerated electron‐hole pairs.…”

Recent Progress in Doped g-C3N4 Photocatalyst for Solar Water Splitting: A Review

“…The global energy demands and environmental crisis have stimulated tremendous research on the exploration of green and renewable energy due to awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection ( Miao et al, 2022 ). Since titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) was discovered as the photoanode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting( Fujishima and Honda, 1972 ), semiconductor-based photocatalysis for solar hydrogen production has seen an upsurge in global interests ( Wang and Wang, 2019 ; Zada et al, 2020 ; Qi et al, 2021 ; Wei et al, 2021 ). However, it is still very challenging to achieve high solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiency toward practical applications.…”