Sunlight-driven photocatalytic water splitting has been investigated as a potentially scalable and economically feasible means of producing renewable hydrogen. However, reactors suitable for efficient water splitting and prompt collection of gaseous products on a large scale have yet to be demonstrated. Here, we demonstrate a sunlight-powered water-splitting reactor using a fixed Al-doped SrTiO₃ photocatalyst and address the key issues in the reactor design associated with the scale-up. A panel reactor filled with only a 1-mm-deep layer of water was capable of rapid release of product gas bubbles without forced convection. A flat panel reactor with 1 m² of light-accepting area retained the intrinsic activity of the photocatalyst and achieved a solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency of 0.4% by water splitting under natural sunlight irradiation. The concept of a readily extensible water-splitting panel is a viable means for large-scale production of low-cost renewable solar hydrogen.

已经研究了阳光驱动的光催化水分解作为生产可再生氢的潜在可扩展且在经济上可行的手段。然而，尚未证明适用于有效的水分解和迅速大规模收集气态产物的反应器。在这里，我们演示了使用固定的Al掺杂SrTiO ₃光催化剂的太阳能驱动的水分解反应器，并解决了与放大相关的反应器设计中的关键问题。仅填充了1毫米深的水的平板反应器能够快速释放出产品气泡，而无需强制对流。1 m ^2的平板反应器受光区域的一部分保留了光催化剂的固有活性，并且通过在自然阳光照射下进行水分解而实现了0.4％的太阳能转化为氢能的效率。易于扩展的水分解面板的概念是大规模生产低成本可再生太阳能氢的可行手段。