Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting by SrTiO3: Progress Report and Design Strategies

Overall water splitting (OWS) using particulate photocatalysts is a promising and straightforward route for producing sustainable and clean hydrogen. Strontium titanate (SrTiO3) is a well-documented photocatalyst in both one-step and two-step (Z-scheme) water splitting systems and presents state-of-the-art activities. Nevertheless, SrTiO3 still has inherent restraints, such as structural imperfections and insufficient optical absorption ability. This critical review summarizes the recent progress in photocatalytic overall water splitting using SrTiO3 photocatalyst, primarily focusing on the modification techniques that are being used to alleviate its drawbacks. Concretely, we outline cocatalyst loading, crystal-facet engineering, reduction of bulk defects, heteroatom doping, and constructing Z-Scheme water splitting systems. Following that, recent efforts in developing photocatalyst sheets and panel reactors for large-scale photocatalytic hydrogen generation are discussed. Lastly, current challenges regarding solar hydrogen generation by SrTiO3 photocatalyst are concluded, and future scope is proposed. The knowledge gained here may also be useful for developing other efficient photocatalysts.