Boosting high added-value chemicals formation by means of photoelectrocatalysis

Within the current production systems, the need for low environmental impact processes to produce chemicals, the treatment of aqueous effluents and the production of fuels is becoming an increasingly urgent challenge. In this context, photoelectrocatalysis (PEC), which couples the electrochemical method (EC) with photocatalysis (PC), can be considered a valid alternative to traditional catalytic processes. It allows increasing the photocatalytic and the electrochemical efficiency by improving the separation of the photoproduced electrons and holes on the electrode active surface and addressing the partial oxidation products formation by selecting the applied potential values. This review is concerned with the possibility to form by PEC high added-value chemicals, sometimes with the contemporary production of hydrogen, by using different materials for the fabrication of photoanodes and photocathodes in different solvents and system configuration, obtaining very interesting values of conversion, selectivity and Faradaic efficiencies. In particular, the review presents results related to the production of valuable compounds by the valorisation of alcohols, biomass derivatives and some peculiar organic substrates, highlighting the influence of electrodes composition, applied bias, electrolyte type and solvent.