Visible Light-Driven Catalysts for Water Oxidation: Towards Solar Fuel Biorefineries

This chapter discusses the most promising visible light-responsive inorganic catalysts for the oxidation reaction in photoelectrochemical water splitting. It starts by introducing the field of solar fuels and solar water oxidation reaction, and then identifies the key challenges to perform this reaction. It then explains extensively the different binary oxide and ternary oxide photoanodes that are very promising in terms of performance and practical applications in the field. It proceeds by discussing the properties of these photoanodes and the advantages and disadvantages of using them. The chapter ends with a discussion on the challenges for the scale-up of water splitting devices, emphasizing the photoanode side, and how those challenges can be addressed.