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Photoelectrochemical water splitting: An ideal technique for pure hydrogen production
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Author : Nitu Singh Parihar and Sushil Kumar Saraswat*
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ABSTRACT
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is one of the promising process to generate hydrogen in an easier and sustainable way. Hydrogen production through PEC provides a green and sustainable source of energy and addresses the solar intermittency problem. While considerable efforts have been made over the past several decades but till date, there is no solar water splitting materials that simultaneously fulfills the high efficiency, long-term stability and low cost. In PEC, the semiconductor materials must exhibit sufficient voltage on irradiation to split water, long-term stability against corrosion in the aqueous electrolyte and the band edge potentials at the surfaces. The charge transfer from surface of the semiconductor to the electrolyte must be facile to minimize energy loss due to kinetic overpotential and selective for the oxygen and hydrogen evolution reaction. The photocatalysts such as TiO2, WO3, CuGaSe2, InGaN, Fe2O3, Cu2O etc. are the most promising semiconductor material due to its suitable band gap and valance band structure. But, the major concern in PEC water splitting is charge separation and transportation. Various strategies such as controlling the morphology, introducing defects, constructing a heterojunction and loading a co-catalyst are used raise the efficiency of PEC process.
KEYWORD
Hydrogen production, photocatalysts, PEC water splitting