CHAPTER 13: Novel Approaches to Water Splitting by Solar Photons

This chapter covers the science and technology of photoelectrochemical water splitting, also termed photoelectrolysis, using solar photons starting with the birth of this field in the mid-1970s to recent developments based on novel cell architectures and photomaterials. The discussion includes thermodynamic calculations of the maximum possible power conversion efficiencies for various photomaterials and cell structures, the differences between photoelectrolysis cells with single photoelectrodes and two photoelectrodes (photoanode and photocathode), utilization of hot electrons and holes, hot excitons in quantum dots that produce multiple exciton generation, singlet fission for carrier multiplication, and the effects of solar concentration on power conversion efficiency.