Recent advances in hierarchical macroporous composite structures for photoelectric conversion

Macroporous structures have attracted great interest for a wide range of applications due to their unique structure-determined physical and chemical properties. In regard to the inherent low surface area, decoration of macroporous structures with small building blocks (including nanoparticles, nanorods, nanowires, nanosheets, etc.) to form macroporous composite materials therefore have been highly pursued very recently. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in synthesis of hierarchical macroporous composite materials and their potential applications as photoelectrode materials for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) and photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells.