Sustainable hydrogen production from water using tandem dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells

Abstract

If generated from water using renewable energy, hydrogen could serve as a carbon-zero, environmentally benign fuel to meet the needs of modern society. Photoelectrochemical cells integrate the absorption and conversion of solar energy and chemical catalysis for the generation of high value products. Tandem photoelectrochemical devices have demonstrated impressive solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiencies but have not become economically relevant due to high production cost. Dye-sensitized solar cells, those based on a monolayer of molecular dye adsorbed to a high surface area, optically transparent semiconductor electrode, offer a possible route to realizing tandem photochemical systems for H-2 production by water photolysis with lower overall material and processing costs. This review addresses the design and materials important to the development of tandem dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells for solar H-2 production and highlights current published reports detailing systems capable of spontaneous H-2 formation from water using only dye-sensitized interfaces for light capture.