Topic: Interface Engineering in (Photo)electrochemical Systems

The development of efficient photoanodes and photocathodes has been very demanding, as most energy-gap semiconductors in the visible can hardly survive the strongly oxidative and corrosive environment, such as water oxidation in photoelectrochemical cell systems. The semiconductor/electrolyte interface is a complex system that requires several ingredients. These include gradient doping or a gradient metal doping profile with defect distribution, band structure engineering, defect control, and band edge energetics in order to improve the photogenerated charge separation efficiency. By improving charge separation, defect-related recombination is significantly suppressed. Recent successes reported in the literature are attributed to advances in surface and interface engineering. This approach is essential for the rational engineering of interfaces forming hetero-junctions to optimize performance. This Special Issue of Energy Materials aims to bring together the most advanced trends in this field, focusing on interface engineering in (photo)electrochemical systems, comprising band structure engineering, defect control, photoelectrochemistry of water oxidation and reduction in experimental demonstrations, and theoretical results predicting the potential of emerging systems for energy-related applications.

31 Jan 2024