The elusive photocatalytic water splitting reaction using sunlight on suspended nanoparticles: is there a way forward?

Idriss, Hicham

doi:10.1039/c9cy01818b

Cited by 47 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 77 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Where overall water splitting is the ultimate goal, realizing stable and efficient organic polymer photocatalyst systems with a high-enough driving force for water oxidation and minimal recombination loss remains an ambitious task. 261,262 A probable solution could be the use of two photocatalysts forming a charge separating junction such that the electrons and holes are spatially separated on sub-systems minimizing kinetic limitations associated with the four-electron water oxidation process. 263 With regard to overall water splitting, it is also important to note that oxygen accumulated from the photoreaction can act as an electron scavenger, and thus directly reduce the yield of the reduction product while forming unwanted reactive oxygen species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymer photocatalysts for solar-to-chemical energy conversion

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Solar-to-chemical energy conversion for the generation of high energy chemicals is one of the most viable, non-intermittent solutions to the present-day lookout for sustainable energy resources. Recently, organic polymeric photocatalysts have garnered significant attention in this field of research, which has long been dominated by inorganic semiconductors. Revisiting the lessons learnt from the latter, we reevaluate the fundamental concepts of photocatalysis in the context of the different classes of polymeric photocatalysts known to date, ranging from carbon nitrides and conjugated polymers, to covalent triazine frameworks and covalent organic frameworks. We then analyze the photophysical and physicochemical concepts that govern the photocatalytic performance of these materials, and thereby derive pertinent design principles and possible future research directions in this emerging field of "soft photocatalysis".

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymer photocatalysts for solar-to-chemical energy conversion

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Finally, the use of sacrificial agents needs to be reduced. Yes, reducing nitrogen in water/methanol could still be called nitrogen reduction (different to the term of water splitting often falsely used for hydrogen production from water/methanol [153] ), but what is it worth for? Except for one example, almost no progress for N 2 reduction in pure water as well as in sacrificial agent systems during the last 3 years has been reported.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction: Challenging Materials with Reaction Engineering

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ammonia is not only the most important chemical for fertilizer production, it has also gained much interest as a future hydrogen storage material. Besides the well‐known Haber–Bosch process to generate ammonia from elemental sources, new ways to convert nitrogen into ammonia have been investigated in the last decade for a decentralized production, including electrocatalytic and photocatalytic approaches. However, photocatalysis in particular suffers from stagnating materials development and unstandardized reaction conditions. In this Review, we shine light on recent materials and reaction engineering results for photocatalytic nitrogen reduction, putting an emphasis on the need to connect the activity of reported materials together with detailed reaction conditions and efficiencies. Photocatalytic nitrogen reduction is an emerging field that will certainly gain significant interest in the future as a sustainable pathway to generate green hydrogen and ammonia. The field will certainly strongly benefit from joint efforts with strong interactions between chemists, physicists and chemical engineers at a fundamental level.

show abstract

“…The input of energy, e, solely originates from adding the h scavenger, often an organic compound, which ultimately results in photoreforming (CO 2 and H 2 ); with the exception of a few groups among them, [ 42–46 ] who paid attention to the CO 2 production of this system, it is still largely overlooked to date. A similar argument applies on the e scavenger part [ 47 ] ; where often in this case an inorganic compound is reduced, such as Ce 4+ to Ce 3+ that may irreversibly react with the catalyst surface. 2) Another important factor has appeared.…”

Section: Photocatalytic (Pc) and Photoelectrocatalytic (Pec) Water Spmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Large‐Scale Hydrogen Production from Water: What Have We Learned and What Are the Main Research Hurdles to Cross for Commercialization?

Idriss

2021

Energy Tech

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The focus of this study is evaluating the status of the most promising methods for water splitting to H2 and O2 with their implementation in mind. These are thermochemical water splitting, photocatalytic (PC) and photo‐electrocatalytic (PEC) water splitting, and water electrolysis. In addition to evaluating their coherence, potential, and cost, some misconceptions in the PC H2 production from water over suspended powder catalysts are highlighted. A few needed research directions at the fundamental level together with the main hurdles to cross for large‐scale production are presented and in some cases discussed. Although an increasing level of activity has taken place in the last few years for large‐scale hydrogen production from water, this is still marginal (at the megawatt scale). A considerable investment in different technologies is needed for a noticeable impact on the environment to occur with an objective to decrease the world dependence on fossil fuels (the terrawatt scale).

show abstract

The elusive photocatalytic water splitting reaction using sunlight on suspended nanoparticles: is there a way forward?

Abstract: For many decades hydrogen production from water by photocatalytic methods has been pursued over a variety of semiconductor powder catalysts featuring many structures and compositions. The stoichiometric formation of molecular hydrogen and oxygen has stayed largely elusive.

Cited by 47 publications

References 77 publications

Polymer photocatalysts for solar-to-chemical energy conversion

Polymer photocatalysts for solar-to-chemical energy conversion

Photocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction: Challenging Materials with Reaction Engineering

Toward Large‐Scale Hydrogen Production from Water: What Have We Learned and What Are the Main Research Hurdles to Cross for Commercialization?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About