
For instance, solar-derived green H 2 has the potential to replace gray or blue H 2, which has been vastly used for ammonia synthesis and in refineries. Storing solar energy in the form of chemical bonds, similar to natural photosynthesis, is very attractive as it could be released upon demand.

(7) Thus, conversion of solar energy into chemical fuels, especially via hydrogen (H 2) generation from earth-abundant water or high value-added chemical synthesis involving utilization of CO 2, is highly desirable. (6) Although solar electricity will surely play a key role in future energy infrastructure, there is a significant need to produce high energy density fuels and store them for prolonged time use. To harness this primary energy, remarkable advances have been made to produce sustainable electricity by solar cells. Furthermore, the prospects of this field are discussed to highlight the future development of polymer photoelectrodes.įascinatingly, the sun provides 1000 times higher energy (1.9 × 10 8 TWh/yr) than the global energy consumption (1.3 × 10 5 TWh/yr).

As a fast-moving area, in particular, over the past ten years, we have witnessed an explosion of reports on polymer materials, including photoelectrodes, cocatalysts, device architectures, and fundamental understanding experimentally and theoretically, all of which have been detailed in this review. Furthermore, the electronic structure of polymer photoelectrodes can be more easily tuned to fit the solar spectrum than inorganic counterparts, promising a feasible practical application. carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, which promise to be more economically sustainable than their inorganic counterparts. Polymer photoelectrodes are composed of earth-abundant elements, e.g. However, achieving this potential requires significant technological advances. Converting solar energy to fuels has attracted substantial interest over the past decades because it has the potential to sustainably meet the increasing global energy demand.
