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Nano Research 2022, 15(12): 10171-10184 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4704-9
Review Article | Issue | Published: 23 July 2022

Homojunction photocatalysts for water splitting

Show Author's Information Xiangjiu Guan1,2,  Shichao Zong3,  Shaohua Shen1( )
International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Suzhou Academy of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Suzhou 215123, China
Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effects in Arid Region, Ministry of Education, School of Water and Environment, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Keywords:
charge separation, water splitting, photocatalytic, homojunction
Topics:
PhotocatalysisPhotocatalysts
Cite this article:
Guan X, Zong S, Shen S. Homojunction photocatalysts for water splitting. Nano Research, 2022, 15(12): 10171-10184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4704-9
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Abstract Full text About this article

Charge-carrier separation is regarded as one of the critical issues of photocatalytic water splitting and could be accelerated by constructing microscopic junctions in photocatalysts. Homojunction photocatalysts consisting of different forms of semiconductor with identical compositions could inherit the advantages of heterojunction-based photocatalysts in charge separation due to the built-in electric field, while omitting the potential drawbacks of interfacial lattice distortion by providing continuous band bonding. Therefore, homojunction-based photocatalysts have recently drawn growing attention in water splitting. In this review, the synthetic approaches to preparing photocatalysts with various homojunction structures including p-n junction, phase junction, and facet junction were introduced, together with a comprehensive analysis and discussion on the latest progress in the application of photocatalytic water splitting. This review work is expected to inspire more related work with promoted research on designing efficient homojunction-based photocatalytic systems for water splitting.


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About this article

Homojunction photocatalysts for water splitting

Show Author's information Xiangjiu Guan1,2, Shichao Zong3, Shaohua Shen1( )
International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Suzhou Academy of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Suzhou 215123, China
Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effects in Arid Region, Ministry of Education, School of Water and Environment, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China

Abstract

Charge-carrier separation is regarded as one of the critical issues of photocatalytic water splitting and could be accelerated by constructing microscopic junctions in photocatalysts. Homojunction photocatalysts consisting of different forms of semiconductor with identical compositions could inherit the advantages of heterojunction-based photocatalysts in charge separation due to the built-in electric field, while omitting the potential drawbacks of interfacial lattice distortion by providing continuous band bonding. Therefore, homojunction-based photocatalysts have recently drawn growing attention in water splitting. In this review, the synthetic approaches to preparing photocatalysts with various homojunction structures including p-n junction, phase junction, and facet junction were introduced, together with a comprehensive analysis and discussion on the latest progress in the application of photocatalytic water splitting. This review work is expected to inspire more related work with promoted research on designing efficient homojunction-based photocatalytic systems for water splitting.

Keywords: charge separation, water splitting, photocatalytic, homojunction

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 14 May 2022
Revised: 21 June 2022
Accepted: 25 June 2022
Published: 23 July 2022
Issue date: December 2022

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2018YFB1502003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51906197, 51961165103, and 21875183), the National Program for Support of Top-notch Young Professionals, the Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province (No. 2019JCW-10), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20190220), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos. 2020M673386 and 2020T130503), the “Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities”, and “The Youth Innovation Team of Shaanxi Universities”.

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