Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) of Jiangsu Province, Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM),Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting can directly capture, convert and store the solar energy into chemical energy. The solar conversion efficiency of PEC water splitting is depended on the performance of a photoelectrode. However, severe recombination and short transfer distance of photogenerated carriers in a semiconductor photoelectrode limit its conversion efficiency. In this review, we focus on introducing some methods to improve the performance of a photoelectrode, according to some recent research in our group and others’. We use the iron oxide and tantalum nitride photoelectrodes as examples to illustrate the effects of morphology control, ion doping and surface treatment on the performance of a photoelectrode.