Abstract
The water-splitting reaction is a promising route to renewable energy. Catalytic hotspots, and the best sites for co-catalyst placement, have now been pinpointed in a water-splitting catalyst, guiding future catalyst design. See Letter p.77 The photoelectrochemical cleavage of water into hydrogen and oxygen is a promising solar-to-fuel energy conversion technology. Attempts to make the process more efficient usually require the photoanodes to be modified with an oxygen evolution catalyst, but little information is available to inform this process. Justin Sambur et al. use in operando imaging, with unprecedented resolution, to map the photoelectrocatalytic activities on single TiO2 nanorods. The data show which photoanode sites are active, and reveal which catalyst deposition sites enhance or worsen performance and why. The methods used are applicable to a wide range of material systems, and should enable the rational, activity-based development of improved catalyst-modified photoelectrodes for solar energy conversion.
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