水分解光触媒の開発とその応用

抄録

In recent years, hydrogen energy has attracted increasing attention in relation to climate change and energy issues. However, the hydrogen used must be produced without carbon dioxide emissions. Water is the only raw material that can be obtained cheaply and in large quantities to produce such hydrogen. The decomposition of water into hydrogen and oxygen requires Gibbs energy of 237 kJ/mol at room temperature and ambient pressure. The energy is usually supplied as electrical or light energy. This account focuses on the development of particulate photocatalysts that use the energy of sunlight to split water. After explaining the basic conditions required for semiconductor particulate photocatalysts for water splitting, the development of several photocatalysts will be described in detail. The development of a total system to produce solar hydrogen from sunlight and water using particulate photocatalysts is then described. Finally, the remaining challenges for the practical application of this novel technology are described.