Chemical fuel generation by solar driven water splitting to hydrogen and CO₂ reduction to hydrocarbons is attractive to supply the sustainable energy. The design and fabrication of photoelectrode materials that are able to harvest sunlight and then produce excitons for chemical reactions is an important scientific undertaking. In this presentation, we will present our recent experimental and theoretical efforts to engineer both photoanode and photo/cathode materials from the perspectives of light absorption improvement by forming heterojunctions, electronic band structure manipulation by controlling the surface states and energetic level alignment, as well as surface catalysts optimization with the aim to improve their capability in the sunlight harvesting range, charge carrier transport efficiency, and the product selectivity. The resultant nanostructures could be employed as photocathode and photoanode separately in a photoelectrochemical tandem cell for unbiased solar fuel generation.

Keywords: Solar fuels, Water Splitting, CO₂ Reduction, Photoelectrochemical Tandem Cell.