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Photoelectrochemical Cells for Artificial Photosynthesis: Alternatives to Water Oxidation
Author(s) -
Ru Ng Andrew Yun,
Boruah Bhanupriya,
Chin Kek Foo,
Modak Jayant M.,
Soo Han Sen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemnanomat
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.947
H-Index - 32
ISSN - 2199-692X
DOI - 10.1002/cnma.201900616
Subject(s) - artificial photosynthesis , photosynthesis , water splitting , photoelectrochemical cell , redox , biomass (ecology) , biochemical engineering , degradation (telecommunications) , photocatalysis , environmental science , solar energy , pollutant , photoelectrochemistry , nanotechnology , computer science , materials science , chemistry , process engineering , electrochemistry , catalysis , ecology , telecommunications , electrical engineering , engineering , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , electrode , biology , biochemistry , electrolyte
Photoelectrochemical cells have been used as one of the most common artificial photosynthetic approaches to mimic natural photosynthetic water splitting reactions. However, despite the tremendous advances made to improve the affordability and efficiency of photoelectrochemical water splitting, it is still not an economically feasible method to produce solar fuels currently since only the H 2 evolving reduction half‐reaction generates valuable fuels. Therefore, in this review, we intend to highlight other underexplored substrates and reactions for producing solar fuels in photoelectrochemical cells, as well as alternative architectures including temporally independent and biohybrid systems. We show that besides water oxidation, electrocatalytic or photoredox reactions for pollutant degradation, biomass valorization, and organic chemical synthesis can be or have been successfully adapted for photoelectrochemical cells, thus offering a virtually infinite number of possibilities for artificial photosynthetic applications which generate valuable products in both the reduction and oxidation half reactions.