Electrochemical activation of photo- and electrochemical water oxidation catalysts

Our civilization is facing one of the biggest challenges in its entire history: the energy transition. The growing demand for energy, the scarcity of resources and climate change are the three main factors driving the change. Firstly, the world population is expected to keep on growing, and many poor countries are projected to experience rapid economic development in the near feature, which calls for the continued growth of global energy supply. Secondly, fossil fuels, the back-bone of the current energy-infrastructure, while still sufficient in quantity for the upcoming decades, are finite. In addition, the combustion of these fossil fuels is leading to global climate change, which is a great threat to humanity as we know it, in environmental, economical, political and sociological terms. Thus, a move away from relying on fossil fuels and towards renewable, clean and sustainable energy resources like the Sun, is both necessary and inevitable…