1. Optimizing hematite nanostructures for electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water splitting applications
- Author
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Pravin P. Ingole and Jyoti Rohilla
- Subjects
Materials science ,business.industry ,Process Chemistry and Technology ,Doping ,Heterojunction ,010501 environmental sciences ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,Solar energy ,01 natural sciences ,Catalysis ,010406 physical chemistry ,0104 chemical sciences ,Renewable energy ,Semiconductor ,Chemical engineering ,Chemistry (miscellaneous) ,Water splitting ,Charge carrier ,business ,Waste Management and Disposal ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Hydrogen production - Abstract
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting using solar energy to produce renewable chemicals and fuels is a great alternative to energy crisis. However, cost-effective hydrogen production through PEC water splitting is limited by the availability of the desired semiconductor photoanode materials. Hematite photoanode (HA) fits proper for this due to its large abundance in nature, low cost, appropriate band-gap energy, and high chemical and photochemical stability. In spite of all these merits, a practical water splitting efficiency is limited due to certain limitations associated with HA including short-hole diffusion length, high recombination rate of charge carriers, and sluggish kinetics. Several modifications in HA materials has been reported in the last decade. This article comprises recent developments toward optimizing HA for PEC water splitting such as through doping, surface modification with co-catalysts, and formation of heterojunctions. Finally, the future aspects for HA to further improve its PEC water splitting efficiency is discussed.
- Published
- 2021