Nanostructured semiconductors for hydrogen production through photocatalyatic water splitting

The increase in world energy demand has triggered the continuous search of alternative energy options such as hydrogen to fulfill the global energy needs. In this context, photocatalytic water splitting has received enormous attention with several reviews and book chapters dedicated to the stated topic of hydrogen production as a greener fuel. Several state-of-the-art reviews have been recently published to highlight critical aspects of photocatalytic water splitting in terms of materials development and improving efficiency of water splitting process. Thus, to avoid redundancy, this chapter will focus on the nanostructure-oriented morphology aspects, mechanism of nanostructured semiconductor photocatalytic water splitting reaction for hydrogen production, detailed discussion on their advantages, and later, the main challenges limiting the use of this technology in commercial applications are discussed and prospects are outlined.