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Materials and systems for large-scale photocatalytic water splitting

Nature Reviews Materials volume 10, pages 769–782 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Sunlight-driven photocatalytic water splitting has been studied as a means of producing renewable green solar hydrogen on a large scale at low cost. However, the research community has yet to define a common vision for practical solar hydrogen production, which requires not only photocatalyst materials that drive water-splitting reactions with high efficiency under sunlight but also systems and processes that can be scaled up. Herein, we discuss the current status and challenges in the development of materials, systems and processes for solar hydrogen production via photocatalytic water splitting. Despite the remarkable scientific progress in the development of photocatalyst materials and reaction systems over the past decade, many technological challenges remain before this technology can be put to practical use in terms of efficiency improvement, mass production, large-scale application of photocatalysts, cost reduction, process-efficiency improvement for reaction systems, and societal acceptance. It is, therefore, imperative to stimulate and accelerate research and development and large-scale demonstrations of hydrogen production via photocatalytic water splitting through collaborative efforts among industry, government and academia.

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Fig. 1: Technological developments required for the large-scale implementation of green hydrogen produced via photocatalytic water splitting.
Fig. 2: Energy diagrams for photocatalytic water splitting.
Fig. 3: Co-loading of an Al-doped SrTiO3 photocatalyst.
Fig. 4: Comparison of the AQY of various photocatalysts.
Fig. 5: Photocatalyst sheets for Z-scheme water splitting.
Fig. 6: A 100-m2 water-splitting photocatalyst panel reactor.
Fig. 7: Gas-separation performance at a large-scale water-splitting photocatalyst panel reactor.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO, project number P21021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Aqua Regeneration, Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan

    Takashi Hisatomi, Hiroshi Nishiyama & Kazunari Domen

  2. Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan

    Takashi Hisatomi

  3. Office of University Professors, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Taro Yamada & Kazunari Domen

  4. Research Initiative for Supra-Materials, Interdisciplinary Cluster for Cutting Edge Research, Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan

    Tsuyoshi Takata

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Hisatomi, T., Yamada, T., Nishiyama, H. et al. Materials and systems for large-scale photocatalytic water splitting. Nat Rev Mater 10, 769–782 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-025-00823-0

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