Photoelectrocatalysis studies have emerged tremendous knowledge and experience, which has led to discovery of a number of active materials. Due to complexity of the processes involved, however, development of suitable semiconductor and catalyst for the photoelectrocatalysis still requires a try-and-error approach as different parameters are coherently varied to determine overall performance. This contribution provides insight into the key optoelectronic properties of the semiconductors, such as absorption coefficient, dielectric constant, effective masses, exciton binding energy, and band positions. The combined assessment from theoretical and experimental points of view is reviewed, which may help thorough understanding of the semiconductors and the way to reliably characterize them, and in turn to develop improved photoelectrocatalytic materials.

光电催化研究已经出现了巨大的知识和经验，这导致了许多活性材料的发现。然而，由于所涉及的过程的复杂性，开发适合用于光电催化的半导体和催化剂仍然需要反复试验的方法，因为不同的参数会连贯地变化以确定整体性能。这一贡献使人们能够洞悉半导体的关键光电特性，例如吸收系数，介电常数，有效质量，激子结合能和能带位置。综述了从理论和实验角度进行的综合评估，这可能有助于彻底了解半导体及其可靠表征的方法，进而开发出改进的光电催化材料。