Z-scheme systems: From fundamental principles to characterization, synthesis, and photocatalytic fuel-conversion applications

Z-scheme photocatalysts have recently received tremendous attention because of their extraordinary light harvesting and utilization ability, spatially-separated reductive and oxidative active sites, and strong redox capacity. This review depicts a panorama of the latest discoveries and developments of Z-scheme photocatalysts for solar-driven fuel production. It starts with the fundamental principles of Z-scheme photocatalysts. Subsequently, the characterization technologies and synthesis methods for Z-scheme photocatalysts are also presented. Afterwards, a series of representative Z-scheme photocatalysts for photocatalytic fuel-conversion applications, e.g., water splitting, CO2 reduction, N2 fixation, and H2O2 production are exemplified. Lastly, this review also provides some new viewpoints into the major challenges, opportunities, and encouraging perspectives for future researches. It is clear that Z-scheme heterojunctions could act as highly efficient photocatalysts to achieve new breakthroughs for diverse photocatalytic fuel-conversion applications.