Recent advances on photocatalytic fuel cell for environmental applications—The marriage of photocatalysis and fuel cells

Environmental pollution and energy crisis have become recent worldwide concerns. Huge amounts of organic wastes are discharged into water bodies, causing serious environmental pollution. Meanwhile, these organic compounds are important carbon and energy sources that could be utilized instead of being discarded. A smart design of a photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) can achieve double benefits: it can degrade organic pollutants and at the same time generate energy. In this review article, we discuss recent progress in the development of PFC systems, and summarize the principles for constructing advanced PFC systems. We particularly focus on the rational design of electrode materials in terms of surface, morphology, facet, and interfacial reaction engineering. The impact of important operational parameters on PFC performance is further discussed in detail. We then discuss the major limitations and opportunities for future PFCs research. The development of smart and advanced PFC systems depends on highly interdisciplinary collaborations, which require concerted efforts from the communities of materials science, chemistry, engineering, and environmental science.