“The Chinese scientific research team has recently made breakthrough progress in the field of photocatalytic water decomposition for hydrogen production.” According to Liu Gang, director of the Institute of Metals of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and head of the research team. The efficiency of hydrogen production through direct water decomposition by sunlight has been significantly improved through "structural cosmetic" and "element substitution" of semiconductor photocatalysis material titanium dioxide. The relevant results were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society on April 8th.

At present, there are two main ways of hydrogen production by solar: one is to generate electricity through solar cells and then electrolyze water, which has high efficiency but complex and expensive equipment. The second is direct photolysis of water by sunlight. In this way, water molecules are "one click decomposed" by semiconductor materials such as titanium dioxide under sunlight. The Liu Gang team mainly focuses on the second technological route.

Through precise control, the team has successfully developed a titanium dioxide material with significantly improved performance. Its ultraviolet utilization rate has exceeded 30%, and the hydrogen production efficiency under simulated solar light has increased by 15 times compared to similar materials, creating a new record for this material system.

Titanium dioxide, as a widely used inorganic material in industry, has a production capacity of over 50% in China, forming a complete industrial chain. China′s rare earth scandium reserves also rank among the top in the world, providing unique industrial advantages for the development and industrial application of photocatalytic materials in the future. After further breakthroughs in photocatalytic water splitting efficiency, it is expected to achieve industrial applications and promote energy structure upgrading.