Solar Fuels

7Graphene-Based Catalysts for Solar Fuels

Zhou Zhang, Maocong Hu* and Zhenhua Yao†

Department of Chemical Engineering, Jianghan University, Wuhan, China

Abstract

Graphene, discovered in 2004 by A. K. Geim and K. S. Novoselov, is considered one of the most promising materials in a wide range of processes because of its outstanding electronic, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties. The growing global energy demand and environmental impact of fossil energy resources have led to energy security and global climate change issues while catalytic processes demonstrated great potential in solving both energy crisis and environmental pollution. One of the excellent examples is the application of graphene-based catalysts in the production of solar fuels including hydrocarbons (eg. formic acid, methanol, etc.) from the reduction of carbon dioxide and hydrogen from solardriven water-splitting with photocatalysis process. In this chapter, recent progress in common synthetic methods to prepare graphene-based catalysts was first reviewed while critical comments and possible solutions were also provided. The second section introduced a summary of the characterization techniques, which were closely relevant to catalysis fields. The performance of graphene-based catalysts in typical processes, such as the conversion of carbon dioxide to value-added hydrocarbons and clean hydrogen by water-splitting were further discussed. Finally, we presented the challenges and opportunities for the future ...