Recent research progress on operational stability of metal oxide/sulfide photoanodes in photoelectrochemical cells

Abstract

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting can directly convert solar energy into hydrogen energy for storage, effectively ending the energy crisis and solving environmental problems. With their modification by many researchers, photoanodes have rapidly improved in PEC performance. Nevertheless, the poor stability of PEC water-splitting devices has not been effectively corrected, seriously hindering their practical application and large-scale commercialization. In this review, we provide a detailed introduction to the photocorrosion mechanism of photoanodes and characterizations of stability, summarizing the current research progress on the stability of metal oxide/sulfide photoanode materials. According to the specificity of each semiconductor, the corrosion mechanism and modification strategy of each photoanode are discussed in detail. Finally, we summarize the deficiencies in the current stability research and propose influencing factors and possible solutions that need to be considered in the photocorrosion research field of photoanodes. This review can provide a reference for the stability research of photoanodes based on metal oxides and sulfides, especially for the design of efficient and stable metal sulfide-based photoanodes.