Ferroelectric nanostructured oxides for solar fuel generation

Decarbonising and cleaner economic growth through green, secure, and affordable future energy resources are among the highest priorities of our time. Market deployment for photo-catalytic/electrochemical systems that convert solar energy to chemical fuels such as hydrogen has not yet been achieved. There has been intense work on methods of increasing output via reducing the rate of recombination and spatially separating reaction products through use of internal electric fields. One such method explored is use of ferroelectric polarisation. Of particular interest are composite nanostructures of ferroelectric ceramics that could prohibit bulk and surface recombination pathways providing significant improvements in overall solar to fuel conversion efficiency. This work presents the current understanding of mechanisms by which ferroelectric polarisation impacts solar fuel.