We report our recent results investigating photocatalytic water-splitting using water vapour. In this case we use well-defined photocatalysts made up of Al-doped SrTiO₃ (SrTiO₃:Al) loaded with a RhCrO_x and CoO_y co-catalyst in a batch phase reactor containing either water vapour dosed into N₂ gas or real air samples. The catalyst samples are deposited onto an inert substrate and irradiated under variable intensity UV LED. Both hydrogen and oxygen are produced in approximately 2:1 stoichiometric ratio over a duration of over 6 h. Importantly, the back reaction of H₂O formation from H₂ and O₂ gas is suppressed, even in air which is a high O₂ environment. The production rates are found to be highly sensitive to the water vapour concentration and temperature of the reactor, as has been found previously for other types of photocatalysts. The photocatalysts are shown to be robust enough in high oxygen environment to actively produce hydrogen using water sourced from ambient air (without any conditioning). These findings suggest photocatalysis may be used as a portable, self-contained hydrogen source for energy in remote locations.

我们报告我们的最新结果，调查使用水蒸气的光催化水分解。在这种情况下，我们使用的Al掺杂的SrTiO由定义良好的光催化剂₃（的SrTiO ₃：Al）的装载有RhCrO _X和CoO _ÿ在含有或者水蒸汽的分批阶段反应器给药成N助催化剂₂的气体或真空气样本。将催化剂样品沉积到惰性基材上，并在可变强度的UV LED下照射。在超过6小时的时间内，氢气和氧气都以大约2：1的化学计量比生成。重要的是，H ₂和O ₂形成H ₂ O的逆反应即使在高O ₂环境的空气中，气体也被抑制。如先前对于其他类型的光催化剂所发现的，发现生产率对反应器的水蒸气浓度和温度高度敏感。所显示的光催化剂在高氧环境中足够坚固，可以使用从周围空气中获得的水主动地产生氢气（无需任何调节）。这些发现表明光催化可以用作偏远地区能源的便携式，独立的氢源。