Host/Guest Nanostructured Photoanodes Integrated with Targeted Enhancement Strategies for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen production from water splitting is a green technology that can solve the environmental and energy problems through converting solar energy into renewable hydrogen fuel. The construction of host/guest architecture in semiconductor photoanodes has proven to be an effective strategy to improve solar‐to‐fuel conversion efficiency dramatically. In host/guest photoanodes, the absorber layer is deposited onto a high‐surface‐area electron collector, resulting in a significant enhancements in light‐harvesting as well as charge collection and separation efficiency. The present review aims to summarize and highlight recent state‐of‐the‐art progresses in the architecture designing of host/guest photoanodes with integrated enhancement strategies, including i) light trapping effect; ii) optimization of conductive host scaffolds; iii) hierarchical structure engineering. The challenges and prospects for the future development of host/guest nanostructured photoanodes are also presented.