TY - JOUR
T1 - Stand-Alone Photoelectrochemical Energy Conversions
AU - Nath, Narayan Chandra Deb
AU - Viswanathan, Perumal
AU - Yadav, Hemraj Mahipati
AU - Yoo, Kicheon
AU - Kang, Hyeon Cheol
AU - Lee, Jae Joon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - The photoelectrochemical (PEC) conversions of water and atmospheric CO2 to value-added fuels, such as H2, CH4, and CH3OH, can provide potential alternative sources for clean and environment-friendly solar fuels. Several efforts are reported on the designing and developing stand-alone PEC cells that efficiently produce H2 and O2 from water and minimize atmospheric CO2 via conversion to fuels under only sunlight. However, in reality, high overpotential, poor product-selectivity, competitive side-reactions, and self-reduction of a catalyst limit the performance of the PEC cells, thereby requiring high power inputs. The choice of electrode materials and architectures of PEC cells are very important for designing stand-alone and durable PEC cells with high solar-to-fuels conversion efficiency (EffSTF) and high selectivity. The present review provides a complete account of recent published works on stand-alone PEC systems with different architectures; development of electrode materials for high EffSTF, selectivity, and stability; and the current challenges. Furthermore, this review describes the future outlook on stand-alone PEC systems for future production of clean solar fuels and mitigation of atmospheric CO2 levels by utilizing only solar energy.
AB - The photoelectrochemical (PEC) conversions of water and atmospheric CO2 to value-added fuels, such as H2, CH4, and CH3OH, can provide potential alternative sources for clean and environment-friendly solar fuels. Several efforts are reported on the designing and developing stand-alone PEC cells that efficiently produce H2 and O2 from water and minimize atmospheric CO2 via conversion to fuels under only sunlight. However, in reality, high overpotential, poor product-selectivity, competitive side-reactions, and self-reduction of a catalyst limit the performance of the PEC cells, thereby requiring high power inputs. The choice of electrode materials and architectures of PEC cells are very important for designing stand-alone and durable PEC cells with high solar-to-fuels conversion efficiency (EffSTF) and high selectivity. The present review provides a complete account of recent published works on stand-alone PEC systems with different architectures; development of electrode materials for high EffSTF, selectivity, and stability; and the current challenges. Furthermore, this review describes the future outlook on stand-alone PEC systems for future production of clean solar fuels and mitigation of atmospheric CO2 levels by utilizing only solar energy.
KW - CO reduction reactions
KW - hydrogen evolution reactions
KW - oxygen evolution reactions
KW - photovoltaic cells
KW - stand-alone photoelectrochemical cells
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100134802&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/solr.202000517
DO - 10.1002/solr.202000517
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85100134802
SN - 2367-198X
VL - 5
JO - Solar RRL
JF - Solar RRL
IS - 6
M1 - 2000517
ER -