Photocatalytic seawater splitting for hydrogen fuel production: impact of seawater components and accelerating reagents on the overall performance
The future fuel, hydrogen, is a clean, sustainable energy source with a substantial density of energy per unit volume/weight. Breakthroughs in hydrogen production, storage, and transportation are essential to meet the sustainable global energy demands. Solar-to-hydrogen conversion through water-splitting reactions (via photo/electro/photoelectro-processes) is a promising strategy for producing green hydrogen fuel. Specifically, the photocatalytic hydrogen generation reaction, mimicking artificial photosynthesis, is a simple and cost-effective method adopted for solar-hydrogen production. Various semiconductor photocatalysts and hybrid photocatalytic systems have been developed to address the sluggish kinetics and selectivity of pristine water/seawater splitting reactions. Recently, seawater has been used as feedstock for large-scale hydrogen production to advance the field and alleviate the scarcity of freshwater sources. This review article, therefore, aims to highlight the importance of seawater splitting reactions using different photocatalytic systems. A brief introduction to the fundamentals, historical progress, and mechanism of the seawater splitting reaction is presented. The impact of seawater components and accelerating reagents on the intrinsic performance of water splitting catalysts is discussed in detail, followed by an elaborate discussion of natural water and artificial seawater splitting with emphasis on onerous photocatalyst designs. Finally, the current challenges and opportunities of saltwater electrolysis for sustainable hydrogen fuel generation and applications are discussed. 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
Yesupatham M.S.; Augustin A.; Agamendran N.; Honnappa B.; Shanmugam M.; Sagayaraj P.J.J.; Thennarasu G.; Sagaya Selvam N.C.; Sekar K.
Sustainable Energy and Fuels, Vol-7, No. 19, pp. 4727-4757.
https://doi.org/10.1039/d3se00810j https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85170237371&doi=10.1039%2fd3se00810j&partnerID=40&md5=fe2c56e710b053bd903a76d27ff5fcc4
Yesupatham M.S., Sustainable Energy and Environmental Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu, Kattankulathur, 603203, India; Augustin A., Sustainable Energy and Environmental Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu, Kattankulathur, 603203, India; Agamendran N., Sustainable Energy and Environmental Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu, Kattankulathur, 603203, India; Honnappa B., Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu, Kattankulathur, 603203, India; Shanmugam M., Sustainable Energy and Environmental Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu, Kattankulathur, 603203, India; Sagayaraj P.J.J., Sustainable Energy and Environmental Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu, Kattankulathur, 603203, India; Thennarasu G., Department of Chemistry, C. Kandaswami Naidu College for Men (A Unit of Pachaiyappa's Trust), Chennai, 600102, India; Sagaya Selvam N.C., Department of Chemistry, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Karnataka, Bangalore, 560029, India; Sekar K., Sustainable Energy and Environmental Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu, Kattankulathur, 603203, India