Sunlight-driven water splitting is studied actively for production of renewable solar hydrogen on a large scale. Both the efficiency and scalability of water splitting systems are essential factors for practical application of renewable solar hydrogen because of the low areal density of the solar energy. In this context, overall water splitting using particulate photocatalysts has been attracting growing interest, because such systems can be spread over wide areas by inexpensive processes potentially [1], although it is essential to radically improve the solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency (STH) of particulate photocatalysts and develop suitable reaction systems. In my talk, recent progress in photocatalytic materials and reaction systems will be presented.

The author’s group has studied various semiconductor oxides, (oxy)nitrides, and (oxy)chalcogenides as photocatalysts for water splitting [2]. SrTiO₃ is an oxide photocatalyst that has been known to be active in overall water splitting under ultraviolet irradiation since 1980 [3]. Recently, the apparent quantum yield (AQY) of this photocatalyst in overall water splitting has been improved drastically. The author's group has found that doping Al³⁺ into the titanium site of SrTiO₃ boosts the water splitting activity by two orders of magnitude [4]. By refining the preparation conditions of the Al-doped SrTiO₃ (SrTiO₃:Al) photocatalyst and the loading conditions of cocatalysts working as hydrogen and oxygen evolution sites, the AQY has been improved to more than 90% at 365 nm [5], equivalent to an internal quantum efficiency of almost unity. This quantum efficiency is the highest yet reported and indicate that a particulate photocatalyst can drive the greatly endergonic overall water splitting reaction at a quantum efficiency comparable to values obtained from photon-to-chemical or photon-to-current conversion in photosynthesis or photovoltaic systems, respectively.

The author's group has also been developing panel reactors for large-scale applications. Photocatalyst sheets based on SrTiO₃:Al contained in a panel-type reactor split water into hydrogen and oxygen and release gas bubbles at a rate corresponding to a solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency of 10% under intense ultraviolet irradiation even when the water depth is merely 1 mm [6]. Moreover, the photocatalyst can maintain 80% of its initial activity during 1300 h of constant simulated sunlight irradiation at ambient pressure with appropriate surface modifications [7]. A prototype 1-m²-sized panel reactor containing SrTiO₃:Al photocatalyst sheets splits water under natural sunlight irradiation without a significant loss of the intrinsic activity of the photocatalyst sheets. More recently, a solar hydrogen production system based on 100-m² arrayed photocatalytic water splitting panels and an oxyhydrogen gas-separation module was built, and its performance and system characteristics including safety issues was reported [8].

For practical solar energy harvesting, it is essential to develop photocatalysts that are active under visible light irradiation. Ta₃N₅ and Y₂Ti₂O₅S₂ photocatalysts are active in overall water splitting via one-step excitation under visible light irradiation [9,10]. Particulate photocatalyst sheets efficiently split water into hydrogen and oxygen via two-step excitation, referred to as Z-scheme, regardless of size. In particular, a photocatalyst sheet consisting of La- and Rh-codoped SrTiO₃ and Mo-doped BiVO₄ splits water into hydrogen and oxygen via the Z-scheme, showing a STH exceeding 1.0% [11,12]. Some other (oxy)chalcogenides and (oxy)nitrides with long absorption edge wavelengths can also be applied to Z-scheme photocatalyst sheets.

1. Hisatomi et al., Nat. Catal. 2019, 2, 387.
2. Chen et al., Nat. Rev. Mater. 2017, 1, 17050.
3. Domen et al., J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1980, 543
4. Ham et al., J. Mater. Chem. A 2016, 4, 3027.
5. Takata et al., Nature 2020, 581, 411.
6. Goto et al., Joule 2018, 2, 509.
7. Lyu et al., Chem. Sci. 2019, 10, 3196.
8. Nishiyama et al., Nature 2021, 598, 304.
9. Wang et al., Nat. Catal. 2018, 1, 756.
10. Wang et al., Nat. Mater. 2019, 18, 827.
11. Wang et al., Nat. Mater. 2016, 15, 611.
12. Wang et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 1675.