| Abstract
| - Electrochemical water splitting powered by conventional electricity or photovoltaic arrays produces molecularhydrogen at the cathode, while organic compound oxidation under mild conditions takes place at the anodein competition with the production of oxygen. An electrolytic cell, which is based on the coupling of bismuth-doped titanium dioxide anodes (BiOx−TiO2) with stainless steel (SS) cathodes, is characterized in terms ofhydrogen production efficiency and organic compound degradation. In the solar-powered photovoltaic (PV)−electrochemical system, the production of molecular oxygen at the anode is suppressed by the simultaneousoxidation and mineralization of organic compounds dissolved in water. In addition, the anodic oxidation oforganic substrates has a synergistic effect on hydrogen production at the cathode that results in a 53% increasein the energy efficiency for H2 generation at circum-neutral pH in the presence of dilute electrolyte solutions.
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