Developing highly efficient photoelectrodes with controllable defects to enhance the kinetics of the PEC process is generally regarded as the key to achieve reliable water splitting reaction. To make the defect effects explicit, the recent development of this concept is comprehensively reviewed here and the principle for the design of defect engineered photoelectrodes is proposed.
Developing highly efficient photoelectrodes with controllable defects to enhance the kinetics of the PEC process is generally regarded as the key to achieve reliable water splitting reaction. To make the defect effects explicit, the recent development of this concept is comprehensively reviewed here and the principle for the design of defect engineered photoelectrodes is proposed.

Development of long-term and sustainable energy economy is one of the most significant technical challenges facing humanity. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is regarded as the most attractive approach for conversion of solar energy to chemical energy, with H2 and O2 as the energy carriers. Defect engineering of photocatalytic materials has been proved effective in improving their performances in PEC water splitting process involving three basic steps, i.e., light absorption, charge transfer/separation, and surface catalytic reaction. In this paper, recent developments in using various techniques to introduce, characterize and regulate defects are summarized, based on which the important roles played by defects are highlighted in the development of high-performance defect engineered photoelectrodes for PEC water splitting application. Moreover, current challenges and future perspectives in the field of defect engineering of nanostructures for photoelectrodes are discussed.

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DOI: 10.1016/j.mattod.2021.10.028