Catechol-TiO2 hybrids for photocatalytic H2 production and photocathode assembly
- Journal:
- Chemical Communications
- Published:
- DOI:
- 10.1039/c7cc05094a
- Affiliations:
- 2
- Authors:
- 7
Research Highlight
Another step closer to sustainable fuels
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A new and inexpensive method of photocatalysis could lead to the production of sustainable fuels by solar energy.
Dye-sensitized photocatalysis has proved very efficient in using visible light to produce clean and renewable hydrogen energy from water, and for making photoanodes for dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells.
Although photocathodes made from dye-sensitized photocatalysis systems hold promise for the development of efficient and cost-effective photocatalysts, creating them has been challenging.
Now, scientists in the UK and Japan, including researchers from the Advanced Institute for Materials Research at Tohoku University in Japan, have developed a dye-sensitized photocatalyst that uses an organic compound called catechol bound to a molecule of titanium dioxide to act as a photosensitizer. They then formed a photocathode by transferring this dye-sensitized titanium dioxide to an electrode.
The advance is an important step in the development of dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells.
References
- Chemical Communications 53, 12638 (2017). doi: 10.1039/c7cc05094a
Institutions | Authors | Share |
---|---|---|
Tohoku University, Japan | 0.64 | |
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) | 0.36 |