Perovskite Solar Cells for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting and CO2 Reduction

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is inspired from the natural photosynthesis process in plants, where solar energy is captured and converted into hydrocarbons, glucose, and oxygen. Hydrogen generation from PEC cells through water splitting is a well-established concept. However, primary challenges include improvement of the water splitting efficiency and stability. Perovskite solar cells are revolutionary due to their facile fabrication, their high open circuit voltage which is advantageous to drive solar assisted water splitting reaction with a single photoabsorber. In photovoltaic-electrocatalyst (PV-EC) is the simplest configuration and has the highest potential for commercialization. In this approach, the water splitting anode and cathode is connected with a multijunction solar cell or few solar cells in series to split water without an external bias. Perovskite solar cells would help to reduce the complexity and fabrication cost of carbondioxide reduction tandem cell due to its high open circuit voltage.