Polyoxometalate-Based Compounds for Photo- and Electrocatalytic Applications

Photo/electrocatalysis of water (H2O) splitting and CO(2)reduction reactions is a promising strategy to alleviate the energy crisis and excessive CO(2)emissions. For the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and CO(2)reduction reaction (CO2RR) involved, the development of effective photo/electrocatalysts is critical to reduce the activation energy and accelerate the sluggish dynamics. Polyoxometalate (POM)-based compounds with tunable compositions and diverse structures are emerging as unique photo/electrocatalysts for these reactions as they offer unparalleled advantages such as outstanding solution and redox stability, quasi-semiconductor behaviour, etc. This Minireview provides a basic introduction related to photo/electrocatalytic HER, OER and CO2RR, followed by the classification of pristine POM-based compounds toward different catalytic reactions. Recent breakthroughs in engineering POM-based compounds as efficient photo/electrocatalysts are highlighted. Finally, the advantages, challenges, strategies and outlooks of POM-based compounds on improving photo/electrocatalytic performance are discussed.