Interfacial charge transfer in semiconductor-molecular photocatalyst systems for proton reduction

Solar fuels have proven to be one of the important promising approaches to provide clean energy of H2. It is an effective strategy for H2 production to construct photocatalytic systems using semiconductor as a sensitizer and molecular catalyst as the H2 evolution catalyst. In the semiconductor-molecular photocatalyst systems (SMP systems) for proton reduction, the interfacial charge transfer, including electron and hole transfer, is the determining factor for the photocatalytic process from kinetic aspects. The knowledge of the interfacial charge transfer is of utmost importance for understanding the photocatalytic systems. This review focuses on the interfacial charge transfer in SMP systems for proton reduction, with a special emphasis on the advances in the studies on the kinetic aspects of interfacial charge transfer.