A photocatalyst comprising CdTe quantum dots and V-doped In2S3 exhibits a strong interfacial built-in electric field and an interfacial trapping state that provide sufficient driving force for extracting excitons and separating carriers during photocatalytic water splitting. Multiple excitons can be generated per photon and exploited to achieve an internal quantum efficiency of more than 100% for hydrogen production.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bie, C., Wang, L. & Yu, J. Challenges for photocatalytic overall water splitting. Chem. 8, 1567–1574 (2022). A review article that presents an overview of photocatalytic overall water splitting, highlighting the opportunities and challenges associated with this technology.
Guo, S., Li, X., Li, J. & Wei, B. Boosting photocatalytic hydrogen production from water by photothermally induced biphase systems. Nat. Commun. 12, 1343 (2021). This paper reports a photothermal–photocatalytic biphasic system with an interfacial barrier and transport resistance of the hydrogen gas that are nearly two orders of magnitude lower than those of particulate photocatalytic systems.
Takata, T. et al. Photocatalytic water splitting with a quantum efficiency of almost unity. Nature 581, 411–414 (2020). This paper reports a SrTiO3 :Al photocatalyst with an external quantum efficiency of up to 96% at wavelengths between 350 and 360 nm.
Wang, B. et al. Heat diffusion-induced gradient energy level in multishell bisulfides for highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production. Adv. Energy Mater. 10, 2001575 (2020). This paper reports a multi-shell ZnS/CoS2 photocatalyst with gradient energy levels, which effectively facilitate exciton separation and electron transfer.
Kroupa, D. M. et al. Enhanced multiple exciton generation in PbS|CdS Janus-like heterostructured nanocrystals. ACS Nano 12, 10084–10094 (2018). This paper reports a PbS/CdS photocatalyst with a Janus structure, which exhibits a trapping state for slowing the hot-electron relaxation rate and improving the MEG performance.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This is a summary of: Zhang, Y. et al. Internal quantum efficiency higher than 100% achieved by combining doping and quantum effects for photocatalytic overall water splitting. Nat. Energy https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01242-7 (2023).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Multiple exciton generation effect in photocatalytic overall water splitting. Nat Energy 8, 433–434 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01253-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01253-4
- Springer Nature Limited