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Liu et al. Microstructures 2023;3:2023001 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/microstructures.2022.23 Page 17 of 21

In these discussions, we have focused on designing and developing PEC catalysts for efficient solar-to-
energy conversion. However, there are still many significant challenges that need to be addressed in order to
make catalysts economically competitive. First, the PEC process involves the transport of charges and the
coupling of subsequent reactions. The rate at which the photogenerated holes transfer to the semiconductor
surface is effectively matched with the rate of transferring into the solution, enabling the efficient utilization
of the photogenerated charges. Therefore, it is important to develop research methods to effectively
distinguish the kinetic processes for the achievement of rate matching. Second, if the spatially separated
photogenerated charges cannot be overlapped and synergized with the catalytic sites, it will lead to the
recombination of the photogenerated charges, thereby reducing the PEC efficiency. The development of
high-resolution characterization instruments can effectively promote the design of efficient PEC catalysts.

DECLARATIONS
Authors’ contributions
Conceptualization, investigation, writing - original draft: Liu N
Writing - review & editing: Liu Y (Yixian Liu), Liu Y ( Yunliang Liu), Li Y, Cheng Y
Writing - review & editing, supervision, funding acquisition: Li H

Availability of data and materials
Not applicable.

Financial support and sponsorship
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 52072152,
51802126), the Jiangsu University Jinshan Professor Fund and the Jiangsu Specially-Appointed Professor
Fund, Open Fund from Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials.

Conflicts of interest
All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.

Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023.

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