Recent Research Progress on Overall Water Splitting by Semiconductor Photocatalysts

Starting from the principle of semiconductor photocatalysts for overall water splitting,the new semiconductor photocatalysts like tantalates,Ge or Ga based semiconductors,layered structure metal oxides,semiconductors with d0 or d10 electronic configuration and Z-scheme photosystem for overall water splitting in recent years,are introduced.The affecting factors of photocatalytic efficiency are also discussed and an outlook for future research is proposed.