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Inorganics
Special Issues
Inorganic Materials for Photoelectrochemical Energy Conversion
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Inorganic Materials for Photoelectrochemical Energy Conversion

A special issue of Inorganics (ISSN 2304-6740). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2023) | Viewed by 4203

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Guiji Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Interests: photoelectrochemistry; electrocatalysis; solar fuels
Dr. Guosong Zeng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Interests: artificial photosynthesis; operando characterization techniques; mechanochemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Photoelectrochemical devices that harness sunlight to drive the production of chemical fuels and feedstocks, hold the promise of generating renewable fuels in large scales, thereby greatly reducing our dependence on fossil fuel resources. Research in this field (e.g. water splitting, CO2 reduction) has significantly accelerated in recent years with the global shift towards a sustainable carbon-neutral future. The realization of scalable technology for photoelectrochemical energy conversion relies on the deployment of an efficient and stable photoelectrode that can absorb sunlight broadly, transfer photogenerated charges with high efficiencies, and catalyze the desired chemical reactions. In this context, more and more efforts have been made in the rational design of photoelectrode materials consisting of semiconducting light absorbers, functional interface layers, and electrocatalysts.

In this Special Issue, we wish to cover the most recent advances in all these aspects of materials for photoelectrochemical energy conversion in the form of original research articles and critical reviews. Other related topics, such as electrocatalysts development, device engineering, as well as fundamental understanding of reaction mechanisms towards photoelectrochemical or electrocatalytic water splitting and CO2 reduction, are also welcome to the theme of the Special Issue.

Dr. Guiji Liu
Dr. Guosong Zeng
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Inorganics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • photoelectrochemistry
  • electrocatalysis
  • solar fuels
  • water splitting
  • CO2 reduction

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

29 pages, 81207 KiB  
Review
Recent Advances in In Situ/Operando Surface/Interface Characterization Techniques for the Study of Artificial Photosynthesis
by Huiqiang Liang, Ziyuan Yan and Guosong Zeng
Inorganics 2023, 11(1), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics11010016 - 29 Dec 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3176
Abstract
(Photo-)electrocatalytic artificial photosynthesis driven by electrical and/or solar energy that converts water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) into hydrogen (H2), carbohydrates and oxygen (O2), has proven to be a promising and effective route for producing [...] Read more.
(Photo-)electrocatalytic artificial photosynthesis driven by electrical and/or solar energy that converts water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) into hydrogen (H2), carbohydrates and oxygen (O2), has proven to be a promising and effective route for producing clean alternatives to fossil fuels, as well as for storing intermittent renewable energy, and thus to solve the energy crisis and climate change issues that we are facing today. Basic (photo-)electrocatalysis consists of three main processes: (1) light absorption, (2) the separation and transport of photogenerated charge carriers, and (3) the transfer of photogenerated charge carriers at the interfaces. With further research, scientists have found that these three steps are significantly affected by surface and interface properties (e.g., defect, dangling bonds, adsorption/desorption, surface recombination, electric double layer (EDL), surface dipole). Therefore, the catalytic performance, which to a great extent is determined by the physicochemical properties of surfaces and interfaces between catalyst and reactant, can be changed dramatically under working conditions. Common approaches for investigating these phenomena include X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), scanning probe microscopy (SPM), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXRD), auger electron spectroscopy (AES), transmission electron microscope (TEM), etc. Generally, these techniques can only be applied under ex situ conditions and cannot fully recover the changes of catalysts in real chemical reactions. How to identify and track alterations of the catalysts, and thus provide further insight into the complex mechanisms behind them, has become a major research topic in this field. The application of in situ/operando characterization techniques enables real-time monitoring and analysis of dynamic changes. Therefore, researchers can obtain physical and/or chemical information during the reaction (e.g., morphology, chemical bonding, valence state, photocurrent distribution, surface potential variation, surface reconstruction), or even by the combination of these techniques as a suite (e.g., atomic force microscopy-based infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR), or near-ambient-pressure STM/XPS combined system (NAP STM-XPS)) to correlate the various properties simultaneously, so as to further reveal the reaction mechanisms. In this review, we briefly describe the working principles of in situ/operando surface/interface characterization technologies (i.e., SPM and X-ray spectroscopy) and discuss the recent progress in monitoring relevant surface/interface changes during water splitting and CO2 reduction reactions (CO2RR). We hope that this review will provide our readers with some ideas and guidance about how these in situ/operando characterization techniques can help us investigate the changes in catalyst surfaces/interfaces, and further promote the development of (photo-)electrocatalytic surface and interface engineering. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inorganic Materials for Photoelectrochemical Energy Conversion)
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