Interfacial Interactions between Co-Based Cocatalysts and Semiconducting Light Absorbers for Solar-Light-Driven Redox Reactions

Solar-light-driven redox reactions, such as water splitting for hydrogen and oxygen evolution, and CO2 reduction, have recently shown great promise toward solar-to-fuel conversion. Herein, the recent achievements in establishing interfacial interactions between cocatalysts and semiconducting light absorbers to improve the efficiency of these reactions are focused on. Four kinds of interactions are summarized to clarify the accelerated photogenerated charge carrier kinetics, thereby resulting in enhanced activity of these redox reactions. Especially, the coordination interaction formed by chemical linkage seems to be more preferred because of a well-provided tunnel for charge transfer. The extended applications of these interfacial interactions to other challenging reactions, such as N-2 fixation and organic synthesis, are also predicted.

Automated summary

This paper focuses on recent achievements in establishing interfacial interactions between cocatalysts and semiconducting light absorbers to improve the efficiency of solar-light-driven redox reactions. Four kinds of interactions are summarized to clarify the accelerated photogenerated charge carrier kinetics, thereby enhancing the activity of these reactions. The extended applications of these interfacial interactions to other challenging reactions, such as N-2 fixation and organic synthesis, are also predicted.