French sci-fi author Jules Verne predicted about 150 years ago that water would become the fuel of the future. Today, scientists are striving to turn this fantasy into reality.

Chinese researchers from the Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science of the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province recently achieved a breakthrough in “photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production”. By performing “structural reshaping” and “element substitution” on a semiconductor material, they significantly enhanced the efficiency of converting water into clean hydrogen energy by using sunlight.

The key to directly splitting water with sunlight lies in a material called titanium dioxide. When exposed to sunlight, it functions like a microscopic power plant, generating energized electron-hole pairs that break down water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, according to Liu Gang, director of the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and leader of the research team.

Through precise control, the research team successfully developed a specialized titanium dioxide material with significantly enhanced performance — its use of ultraviolet light exceeded 30 percent, and its hydrogen production efficiency under simulated sunlight was 15 times higher than previously reported titanium dioxide materials, setting a new record, Liu stated.

“If used to create a 1-square-meter photocatalytic material panel, around 10 liters of hydrogen can be produced with one day of sunlight,” Liu said.“With continued advancements in photocatalytic water-splitting efficiency, this technology holds promise for industrial application, and could drive the transformation of energy systems.”