The expected depletion of fossil fuel reserves and its serious environmental impact have emphasised the issue of sustainable development of the human society. Solar hydrogen by photocatalytic water splitting is a promising alternative to conventional fossil fuels, which is of great potential to relieve the energy and environmental issues and bring an energy revolution in a clean and sustainable manner. This review is going to make a brief introduction of the basic principles of photocatalytic water splitting and the concept of different kinds of water splitting systems. Various engineering strategies for searching higher efficiency of water splitting based on the photocatalytic processes, including light harvesting, charge carriers separation and co-catalysts loading, have been outlined and discussed with selected typical examples on some elaborately designed semiconductor-based photocatalytic systems. Moreover, recent impressive progresses and advancements for photocatalytic water splitting with some promising materials are presented. Finally, this review is concluded with a summary and perspective in this hot area of research.

中文翻译：

---

用于太阳能制氢的光催化分解水：基本原理和最新进展

化石燃料储量的预期枯竭及其对环境的严重影响凸显了人类社会的可持续发展问题。通过光催化分解水的太阳能氢是传统化石燃料的有前途的替代品，在缓解能源和环境问题以及以清洁和可持续的方式带来能源革命方面具有巨大潜力。本综述将简要介绍光催化分解水的基本原理和不同类型水分解系统的概念。基于光催化过程寻找更高效率的水分解的各种工程策略，包括光收集、载流子分离和助催化剂负载，已经概述和讨论了一些精心设计的基于半导体的光催化系统的典型例子。此外，还介绍了一些有前途的材料在光催化水分解方面的最新进展和进展。最后，对这一热点研究领域进行了总结和展望。