Toward efficient solar water splitting over hematite photoelectrodes

Hematite has been considered as one of the most promising materials for solar water splitting, although its photoelectrochemical performance is still not very high and limited by its intrinsic properties. In the past few years, sizable advances in the development of hematite photoelectrodes for enhanced water splitting activities have been achieved by a variety of rational modification strategies, including nanostructure design for efficient charge collection, metal ion doping for promoted charge carrier transfer, heterojunctions for efficient charge separation, and surface and/or interface modification for retarded charge recombination and enhanced light absorption. In this article, research work and milestone achievement actually focused on hematite photoelectrodes for water splitting is reviewed in detail. A review on this topic by answering the key question, “how to modify or design hematite photoelectrode to improve its conductivity, enhance charge separation as well as catalyze surface water oxidation,” in authors view, can be potentially helpful to enable hematite for further efficient solar energy conversion, which will be very inspiring and important to this field.