IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v9y2016i5p373-d70177.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nanostructured p -Type Semiconductor Electrodes and Photoelectrochemistry of Their Reduction Processes

Author

Listed:
  • Matteo Bonomo

    (Department of Chemistry, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, 00139 Rome, Italy)

  • Danilo Dini

    (Department of Chemistry, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, 00139 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

This review reports the properties of p -type semiconductors with nanostructured features employed as photocathodes in photoelectrochemical cells (PECs). Light absorption is crucial for the activation of the reduction processes occurring at the p -type electrode either in the pristine or in a modified/sensitized state. Beside thermodynamics, the kinetics of the electron transfer (ET) process from photocathode to a redox shuttle in the oxidized form are also crucial since the flow of electrons will take place correctly if the ET rate will overcome that one of recombination and trapping events which impede the charge separation produced by the absorption of light. Depending on the nature of the chromophore, i.e. , if the semiconductor itself or the chemisorbed dye-sensitizer, different energy levels will be involved in the cathodic ET process. An analysis of the general properties and requirements of electrodic materials of p -type for being efficient photoelectrocatalysts of reduction processes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) will be given. The working principle of p -type DSCs will be described and extended to other p -type PECs conceived and developed for the conversion of the solar radiation into chemical products of energetic/chemical interest like non fossil fuels or derivatives of carbon dioxide.

Suggested Citation

  • Matteo Bonomo & Danilo Dini, 2016. "Nanostructured p -Type Semiconductor Electrodes and Photoelectrochemistry of Their Reduction Processes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-32, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:9:y:2016:i:5:p:373-:d:70177
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/5/373/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/5/373/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carlos G. Morales-Guio & S. David Tilley & Heron Vrubel & Michael Grätzel & Xile Hu, 2014. "Hydrogen evolution from a copper(I) oxide photocathode coated with an amorphous molybdenum sulphide catalyst," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xue Zhou & Baihe Fu & Linjuan Li & Zheng Tian & Xiankui Xu & Zihao Wu & Jing Yang & Zhonghai Zhang, 2022. "Hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne encapsulated cuprous oxide photocathode for efficient and stable photoelectrochemical water reduction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Hamdani, I.R. & Bhaskarwar, A.N., 2021. "Recent progress in material selection and device designs for photoelectrochemical water-splitting," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. Saraswat, Sushil Kumar & Rodene, Dylan D. & Gupta, Ram B., 2018. "Recent advancements in semiconductor materials for photoelectrochemical water splitting for hydrogen production using visible light," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 228-248.
    4. Liu, Xiangyu & Min, Shixiong & Xue, Yuan & Lei, Yonggang & Chen, Yangyang & Wang, Fang & Zhang, Zhengguo, 2019. "Accelerating photosensitized H2 evolution over in situ grown amorphous MoSx catalyst employing TiO2 as an efficient catalyst loading matrix and electron transfer relay," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 562-572.
    5. Wan Jae Dong & Yixin Xiao & Ke R. Yang & Zhengwei Ye & Peng Zhou & Ishtiaque Ahmed Navid & Victor S. Batista & Zetian Mi, 2023. "Pt nanoclusters on GaN nanowires for solar-asssisted seawater hydrogen evolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:9:y:2016:i:5:p:373-:d:70177. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.