STRUCTURAL AND MATERIAL STUDY TOWARD ADVANCED PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL WATER SPLITTING

Abstract

Photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis are both considered as promising routes to mitigate energy and environmental crises. Particularly, photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has been extensively studied in the search for sustainable ways of converting solar energy into chemical energy to produce energy-dense fuel with minimal carbon footprint. However, difficulties like the lack of satisfactory visible light responsive material and low photocatalytic efficiency have now limited the application of photocatalyst. Targeting on exploring possible strategies of advanced photocatalyst and photoelectrode fabrications, my Ph.D. project aims to reveal the design and synthesis of nanoscale heterostructures as potential photocatalyst and look inside the electron transportation process as well as PEC testing of these materials. There are three works contained in this thesis and photoelectrode materials, e.g. CuO/Cu2O, ZnO, TiO2 and MoN2 were investigated in each work, respectively.