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2020 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

3. Titania-Based Heterojunctions for Hydrogen Generation by Water Photolysis

Authors : L. K. Preethi, Rajini P. Antony, Tom Mathews

Published in: Green Photocatalysts for Energy and Environmental Process

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

The depleting fossil fuels and their serious environmental impact have heightened the need for an alternative renewable energy resource. The hydrogen obtained from sunlight-assisted water splitting is found to be a promising alternate to the fossil fuel. The proposal of generating hydrogen from solar water splitting has a great potential to solve the energy and environmental issues and introduce an energy revolution in sustainable and cleaner way. A variety of photocatalysts ranging from organic to inorganic materials have been studied, but their overall efficiency is limited due to varied reasons. The prevalent reason is the poor control over the recombination of photoexcited charge carriers. It has been investigated that integrating different materials in the form of heterojunction can improve the photocatalyst’s efficiency in multiple folds. These heterojunctions would enhance the charge carrier mobility and lifetime, absorption coefficient, stability, etc. which leads to improved charge separation at the heterointerface and hence their efficiency in H₂ generation by photo-assisted water splitting.

In view of this, the present chapter mainly focuses on reviewing TiO₂-based heterojunctions, a widely studied material for photocatalytic hydrogen generation. The basic working principle of different heterojunctions of TiO₂, their concerned drawbacks, and the recent impressive progress in developing other forms of TiO₂ heterojunctions are presented. In addition, the overviews of synthesis strategies of various TiO₂-based heterojunction materials are reviewed. The performance and stability of any heterojunction photocatalyst are dependent on the synergistic functioning of the interfaces between the individual materials forming heterojunction. The study of light matter interaction in these heterointerfaces is expected to provide crucial information helpful for exploiting the potential of these photocatalysts for commercial viability. Therefore, the present chapter also demonstrates the existing methodologies to probe these heterojunctions under light irradiation for charge carrier dynamic analysis. Finally, the chapter is concluded with the ups and downs of TiO₂-based heterojunction research and the future perspectives.

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Title: Titania-Based Heterojunctions for Hydrogen Generation by Water Photolysis
Authors: L. K. Preethi
Rajini P. Antony
Tom Mathews
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Green Photocatalysts for Energy and Environmental Process
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-17637-2

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-17638-9

Copyright Year: 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17638-9_3