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 (SrTiO 3 ) 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, SrTiO 3 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 SrTiO 3 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 SrTiO 3 photocatalyst are concluded, and future scope is proposed. The knowledge gained here may also be useful for developing other efficient photocatalysts.