Photoelectrode for water splitting: Materials, fabrication and characterization

Photoelectorchemical (PEC) water splitting is an attractive approach for producing sustainable and environment-friendly hydrogen. An efficient PEC process is rooted in appropriate semiconductor materials, which should possess small bandgap to ensure wide light harvest, facile charge separation to allow the generated photocharges migrating to the reactive sites and highly catalytic capability to fully utilize the separated photocharges. Proper electrode fabrication method is of equal importance for promoting charge transfer and accelerating surface reactions in the electrodes. Moreover, powerful characterization method can shed light on the complex PEC process and provide deep understanding of the rate-determining step for us to improve the PEC systems further. Targeting on high solar conversion efficiency, here we provide a review on the development of PEC water splitting in the aspect of materials exploring, fabrication method and characterization. It is expected to provide some fundamental insight of PEC and inspire the design of more effective PEC systems.