Solution combustion synthesis of oxide semiconductors for solar energy conversion and environmental remediation

In this tutorial review, we summarize recent research on the solution combustion synthesis of oxide semiconductors for applications related to photovoltaic solar energy conversion, photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation, and heterogeneous photocatalytic remediation of environmental pollutants. First, the advantages of combustion synthesis relative to other strategies for preparing oxide semiconductors are discussed followed by a summary of process variants in combustion synthesis. The possibility of in situ chemical modification of the oxide during its formation in the combustion environment is addressed. Morphological and crystal structure aspects of the combustion-synthesized products are discussed followed by a summary of trends in their photocatalytic activity relative to benchmark samples prepared by other methods.