A review on photocatalytic systems capable of synchronously utilizing photogenerated electrons and holes

Abstract With the continuous progress and development of current industrial civilization, energy crisis and environmental pollution are serious problems that threaten human beings need to be solved. Photocatalytic technologies that can use clean solar light energy to manufacture clean H 2 fuel and high value chemicals provide a feasibility to solve the above problem. However, traditional photocatalytic water splitting mainly focused on the utilization of photogenerated electrons to produce H 2 which leads to the waste of the holes. It is vital to develop photocatalysts capable of synchronously utilizing photogenerated electrons and holes for the future practical application. In this paper, the latest progress of photocatalytic system with collaborative photooxidation‐reduction application has been summarized, and water splitting for H 2 production combining different organic synchronous reaction process has been clarified. Finally, the prospect of photocatalysts capable of synchronously utilizing photogenerated electrons and holes are proposed.