Convertingsolar energy to chemical energy via artificial photosynthesis has beenconsidered as an attractive approach towards addressing important energy andenvironmental problems. To make this approach practical, it is crucial todevelop systems with reasonable efficiency and tunable functionality.Traditionally, photocatalytic systems based on semiconductor powder orphotoelectrochemical systems based on film have been mainly used to achievesolar-to-chemical conversion. Although investigations on these systems areimportant, two challenging issues exist. First, the efficiency of singlephotocatalytic or photoelectrochemical systems (we defined these systems asuncoupled system) is still too low to qualify for practical applications.Second, the functionality of the traditional system can be hardly tuned, whichlimits their wide applications.
Keeping these two issues in mind, we aimto design and develop coupled systems towards solar-to-chemical conversion. Theunderlying concept of this research is to couple photocatalytic andphotoelectrochemical systems with traditionally catalytic systems, enzymaticsystems or biological systems through interdisciplinary designand system integration strategy. By coupling the strengths ofdifferent systems, we can achieve new functionality or higher solar-to-chemicalefficiency, which will open a new avenue for the utilization of solar energy.
In our research, we aim to design andconstruct three types of coupled systems, includingphotoelectrochemical-traditional catalytic hybrid system, artificial-naturalhybrid system, and photovoltaic-electrocatalytic system. We will investigatefrom two aspects. The first one is the fabrication of coupled system withtarget functionality through interdisciplinary design and system integrationstrategy. The second one is the modulation of charge and energy transfer in thecoupled systems and the illustration of the underlying scientific issues withcomprehensive characterizations especially ultra-fast and in-situ spectroscopyand theoretical calculations. Related work can be found in the followingreferences.
1. MaW G, Wang H, Yu W, Wang X M, Xu Z Q, ZongX*, Li C*. Achieving Simultaneous CO2 and H2S Conversion via aCoupled Solar-driven Electrochemical Approach on Non-precious Catalysts. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57: 3473 –3477.
2. WangW Y, Wang H, Zhu Q Y, Qin W, Han G Y, Shen J R, Zong X*, Li C*.SpatiallySeparated Photosystem II and a Silicon Photoelectrochemical Cell for OverallWater Splitting: A Natural–Artificial Photosynthetic Hybrid. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55: 9229–9233. (HotPaper)
3. Zong X, Han J F, Seger B, Chen H J, Lu (Max) G Q, Li C*, Wang LZ*, An IntegratedPhotoelectrochemical–Chemical Loop for Solar-Driven Overall Splitting ofHydrogen Sulfide. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53: 4399-4403. (Hot paper)
4. Zong X, Chen H J, Seger B,Pedersen T, Dargusch M S, McFarland E W, Li C,* Wang L Z*, Selective productionof hydrogen peroxide and oxidation of hydrogen sulfide in an unbiased solarphotoelectrochemical cell. Energy Environ. Sci. 2014, 7,3347-3351 (Cover story)
5. S.Liao, X. Zong, B. Seger, T.Pedersen, T. Yao, C. Ding, J. Shi, J. Chen, C. Li. Integrating a dual-siliconphotoelectrochemical cell into a redox flow battery for unassistedphotocharging. Nat. Commun. 2016, 7,11474.
6. MaW G, Han J F, Yu W, Yang D, Wang H, ZongX*, Li C*. Integrating Perovskite Photovoltaics and Noble-Metal-FreeCatalysts toward Efficient Solar Energy Conversion and H2SSplitting. ACS Catal. 2016, 6, 6198−6206.
7. Wang X M, Wang H, Zhang H F, Yu W, Wang X L, ZhaoY, Zong X*, Li C*. DynamicInteraction between Methylammonium Lead Iodide and TiO2 NanocrystalsLeads to Enhanced Photocatalytic H2 Evolution from HI Splitting, ACS Energy Letters, 2018,Accepted.
8. Zhang H F, Yang Z, Yu W, Wang H, Ma W G, Zong X*, Li C*, ASandwich-like Organolead Halide Perovskite Photocathode for Efficient andDurable Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Evolution in Water Adv. Energy. Mater. 2016, 6, 1600864. Accepted.
9. Metal Phosphide Catalysts Anchored on Metal-cagedGraphitic Carbon towards Efficient and Durable Hydrogen EvolutionElectrocatalysis, Nano Energy, 2018, Accepted.
10. WangZ L, Han J F, Li Z, Li M R, Wang H, ZongX*,Li C*. Moisture-Assisted Preparation of Compact GaN:ZnO Photoanode TowardEfficient Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation. Adv. Energy. Mater. 2016,6, 1600864.
