Photocatalytic Water Splitting-1

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2016)

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Energy & Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National University of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 44919, Korea
Interests: photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water splitting; electrocatalysts and membrames of low temperature fuel cells; heterogeneous catalysis for energy and environment

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Guest Editor
Institute for Catalysis, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan
Interests: photocatalysis; particle chemistry; electrochemistry
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Dear Colleagues,

Since the discovery of photoassisted electrochemical water splitting on single-crystal titania and platinum electrodes by Fujishima and Honda, published in Nature in 1972, a number of trials for the application of this concept to heterogeneous photocatalysis have been made. However, even after more than 40 years, the number of successful examples is limited and the efficiency is still low, especially for systems using visible-light irradiation. Control of the band position of semiconducting materials to fit redox reactions by doping or modification and combination of two photocatalysts to drive reduction and oxidation separately, i.e., Z-scheme systems, have been proposed, but a new concept/strategy seems to be required for the realization of efficient photocatalytic water splitting.

In this Special Issue, recent studies on photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water splitting are assembled to provide a broad overview of its current status, outstanding barriers, and future outlook.

Prof. Dr. Bunsho Ohtani
Prof. Dr. Jae Sung Lee
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • materials and systems for photocatalytic water splitting
  • materials and systems of photoelectrochemical water splitting
  • materials design and fabrication for high efficiency
  • band engineering of photoactive semiconductors
  • electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution (OER)
  • hydrogen evolution (HER) reactions,
  • fundamental processes of charge generation, separation, and transport
  • engineering aspects of solar water splitting

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

2749 KiB  
Article
Mixed-Metal Semiconductor Anodes for Electrochemical Water Splitting and Reactive Chlorine Species Generation: Implications for Electrochemical Wastewater Treatment
by Su Young Ryu and Michael R. Hoffmann
Catalysts 2016, 6(4), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal6040059 - 20 Apr 2016
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 7356
Abstract
A procedure for the preparation of semiconductor anodes using mixed-metal oxides bound together and protected with a TiO2 nanoglue has been developed and tested in terms of the relative efficiencies of the oxygen evolution (OER), the reactive chlorine species evolution (RCS), and [...] Read more.
A procedure for the preparation of semiconductor anodes using mixed-metal oxides bound together and protected with a TiO2 nanoglue has been developed and tested in terms of the relative efficiencies of the oxygen evolution (OER), the reactive chlorine species evolution (RCS), and the hydrogen evolution (HER) reactions. The composition of the first anode is a Ti metal substrate coated with IrTaOx and overcoated with TiO2 (P25) that was mixed with TiO2 nanogel, while the second anode consists of a Ti metal substrate coated with IrTaOx and an over-coating layer of La-doped sodium tantalate, NaTaO3:La. The experimental efficiencies for water splitting ranged from 62.4% to 67.5% for H2 evolution and 40.6% to 60.0% for O2 evolution. The corresponding over-potentials for the Ti/IrTa-TiO2 and Ti/IrTa-NaTaO3:La anodes coupled with stainless steel cathodes of the same dimensions were determined to be 437 mV and 367 mV for the OER, respectively, and 239 mV and 205 mV for RCS, respectively. The preparation procedure described herein should allow for easier production of large-surface area anodes at lower costs than standard methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalytic Water Splitting-1)
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10530 KiB  
Communication
Effect of Porphyrin Molecular Structure on Water Splitting Activity of a KTaO3 Photocatalyst
by Hidehisa Hagiwara, Kohei Higashi, Motonori Watanabe, Ryota Kakigi, Shintaro Ida and Tatsumi Ishihara
Catalysts 2016, 6(3), 42; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal6030042 - 10 Mar 2016
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 7173
Abstract
Photocatalytic water splitting is one of the ideal methods for solving the global energy crisis and its associated environmental problems. In this study, the effect of altering the molecular structure of porphyrins was investigated to improve the water splitting activity of Zr-doped KTaO [...] Read more.
Photocatalytic water splitting is one of the ideal methods for solving the global energy crisis and its associated environmental problems. In this study, the effect of altering the molecular structure of porphyrins was investigated to improve the water splitting activity of Zr-doped KTaO3 (KTa(Zr)O3) modified with porphyrin dyes. UV-vis spectra indicated that porphyrins with long alkoxy chains tended to form well-developed H-aggregates on the KTa(Zr)O3 surface. The photocatalytic activity of Pt-loaded KTa(Zr)O3 was improved by using porphyrins with longer alkoxy chains because of the improvement in the charge migration between porphyrin dye molecules. While the charge transfer between the inorganic semiconductor and porphyrin dye interface is important, it was found that the formation of H-aggregation was more effective in improving the water splitting activity of the porphyrin-modified photocatalysts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalytic Water Splitting-1)
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962 KiB  
Article
Effect of Surface Passivation on Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Performance of WO3 Vertical Plate-Like Films
by Yahui Yang, Renrui Xie, Yang Liu, Jie Li and Wenzhang Li
Catalysts 2015, 5(4), 2024-2038; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal5042024 - 24 Nov 2015
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 7710
Abstract
WO3 vertical plate-like arrays provide a direct pathway for charge transport, and thus hold great potential as working electrodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, surface recombination due to surface defects hinders the performance improvement. In this work, WO3 vertical plate-like arrays films [...] Read more.
WO3 vertical plate-like arrays provide a direct pathway for charge transport, and thus hold great potential as working electrodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, surface recombination due to surface defects hinders the performance improvement. In this work, WO3 vertical plate-like arrays films with HfO2 passivation layer were fabricated via a simple dip-coating method. In the images of transmission electron microscope, a fluffy layer and some small sphere particles existed on the surface of WO3 plate. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed a higher concentration of Hf element than the result of energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), which means that HfO2 is rich on the surface of WO3 plates. A higher photocurrent under visible light irradiation was gained with surface passivation. Meanwhile, the results of intensity modulated photocurrent spectrum (IMPS) and incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE) indicate that HfO2 passivation layer, acting as a barrier for the interfacial recombination, is responsible for the improved photoelectrochemical performance of WO3 vertical plate-like arrays film. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalytic Water Splitting-1)
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