Photodeposition of earth-abundant cocatalysts in photocatalytic water splitting: Methods, functions, and mechanisms

Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy investigation into the electron transfer mechanism in photocatalysis

“…Generally, metal cocatalysts can be categorized into noble metals (such as Au, Ag, Pt and Pd) and non-noble metals (such as Ni and Cu). 60,61 Metal cocatalysts exhibit two merits in improving the photocatalytic performance of a single semiconductor. First, most metal cocatalysts serve as electron acceptors, extracting photogenerated electrons from the CB of the semiconductor to their empty electron-accepting energy levels.…”

Advances in organic semiconductors for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction

“…Despite differences in the generation and transport of charges to active sites, both electrocatalytic and photocatalytic systems share a localized electrochemical process for reactant-to-product conversion. The use of metal co-catalysts with electrocatalytic properties is often necessary to provide active sites for photocatalysts 19,20 , and noble metals have become the preferred choice due to their exceptional catalytic properties, despite their high cost and scarcity. To reduce the loading of noble metals in organic photocatalysts while maintaining performance, several approaches, including single-atom catalysis, bimetallic co-catalysts, and the exploration of metal-free photocatalytic systems, can be used to optimize resource utilization and achieve a balance between the crucial role of co-catalysts and the need for environmental sustainability in photocatalysis.…”

Single transition metal atom centered clusters activating semiconductor surface lattice atoms for efficient solar fuel production

“…oxides, hydroxides, sulphides, phosphides, and carbides), nanocarbons, and artificial organometallic molecules, have been proven to be effective for hydrogen production, even with performance surpassing those of noble metals. 9,10,13 Nonetheless, all these findings rely to a great extent on trial-and-error and/or combinatorial approaches, 14,15 with little attention being paid to the investigation of the underlying structure–activity relationships. 16 The real active state of the cocatalyst, the location of the reaction site and its exact structure, as well as the fundamental operating mechanism, thus are all not exactly known, severely impeding the further rational design of efficient hydrogen production cocatalysts.…”