A scalable solar-driven photocatalytic system for separated H2 and O2 production from water

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56314-x
• Publication Date: 2025-01-24T14:42:35Z
• Authors: Hui Fu; Yaqiang Wu; Yuhao Guo; Takuya Sakurai; Qianqian Zhang; Yuanyuan Liu; Zhaoke Zheng; Hefeng Cheng; Zeyan Wang; Baibiao Huang; Qian Wang; Kazunari Domen; Peng Wang
• Keywords: Science; Q; Article

Solar-driven photocatalytic water splitting offers a sustainable pathway to produce green hydrogen, yet its practical application encounters several challenges including inefficient photocatalysts, sluggish oxidation, severe reverse reactions and the necessity of separating produced hydrogen oxygen gases. Herein, we design develop system composed two separate reaction parts: evolution cell containing halide perovskite photocatalysts (MoSe2-loaded CH(NH2)2PbBr3-xIx) an NiFe-layered double hydroxide modified BiVO4 photocatalysts. These components are bridged by I3−/I− redox couple facilitate electron transfer, realizing efficient overall with solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency 2.47 ± 0.03%. Additionally, outdoor scaled-up setup 692.5 cm2 achieves average 1.21% during week-long test under natural sunlight. By addressing major limitations inherent in conventional systems, such as cooccurrence single resultant from recombination, this work introduces alternative concept for design, which enhances both practicality. Photocatalytic method producing but faces due materials systems. Here, authors report water-splitting that efficiently produces cells.