Solar energy has attracted considerable interest as a source of alternate energy since it can assist in the environmental friendly production of electricity (photovoltaics) and hydrogen (water splitting) if appropriate photocatalysts are employed. The photo-illumination process generates charge carriers in a photocatalyst. In photovoltaic systems, these charges produce electricity, while in water splitting these charges initiate a series of reactions to produce hydrogen. To efficiently perform these processes, a photocatalyst must satisfy some important criteria.
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