Visible light responsive photocatalysts developed by substitution with metal cations aiming at artificial photosynthesis

Abstract

To solve resource, energy, and environmental issues, development of sustainable clean energy system is strongly required. In recent years, hydrogen has been paid much attention to as a clean energy. Solar hydrogen production by water splitting using a photocatalyst as artificial photosynthesis is a promising method to solve these issues. Efficient utilization of visible light comprised of solar light is essential for practical use. Three strategies, i.e., doping, control of valence band, and formation of solid solution are often utilized as the useful methods to develop visible light responsive photocatalysts. This mini-review introduces the recent work on visible-light-driven photocatalysts developed by substitution with metal cations of those strategies.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

visible light responsive photocatalyst / water splitting / artificial photosynthesis: metal ion substitution

References

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Nos. 17H06433 and 17H06440) in Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Innovations for Light-Energy Conversion (I4 LEC),” 17H01217, and 20K15383.

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