The “photons storage pool” effect of long afterglow phosphor for round-the-clock photocatalytic clean energy evolution

Sunlight stimulated photocatalytic clean energy generation has aroused more and more attention in recent years due to the convenient, sustainable, and environment-friendly procedure. However, a significant issue that the clean energy formation process must be conducted under continuous sunlight illumination prohibits the practical application. The capability for maintaining clean energy production under darkness is a ultimate target of the industrial utilization of photocatalysis technique. Up to now, a variety of works have been conducted to explore new materials or reaction systems to promote photocatalytic reactions upon both daytime and darkness, being also named “round-the-clock catalytic system”. Long afterglow phosphors possess the unique “charge storage pool” effect, which enables the photocatalytic clean energy evolution under both day and night, so as to achieving efficient and round-the-clock clean energy preparation. In this review, we systematically summarize the recent representative progresses in round-the-clock clean energy evolution with highlighting the “charge storage pool” effect in photocatalytic system. More importantly, the relationship between the protocol for strengthening “charge storage pool” effect and engineering advanced round-the-clock clean energy evolution system is correlated in depth. Finally, the ongoing challenge and study direction in the mechanistic exploration, material fabrication and potential applications are also analyzed and outlooked. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd