Photovoltaic devices in hydrogen production

Hydrogen is an ideal fuel for the increasing human demand of abundant, clean and renewable energy. Various technologies are developed for the production of the hydrogen through water splitting, and in particular the photovoltaic device is widely regarded as an opportunity for the high efficiency, low cost and simple configuration devices. Three main systems are briefly reviewed in this article by demonstrating the typical devices of them, including the III-V group compound semiconductor, the multi-junction Si structure and the dye-sensitized solar cells. Although considerable disadvantages and limitations are obvious in performance, the challenging and competing criteria are outlined for the improvements. Moreover, the introduction of plasmonic metal nanostructures provides an intriguing prospect of extensive applications of the photovoltaic devices.