Splitting water using bismuth vanadate

The photocatalytic water splitting process holds appeal for scientists as a solution to both energy and environmental problems. In this process, water is split into oxygen and hydrogen using light energy and a catalyst. As the problem of global warming has increased, researchers have looked to hydrogen, a clean-burning fuel, as a renewable energy solution. With water being such an inexpensive resource, tremendous effort has been dedicated to this promising research field during the past decades. But scientists have only been able to discover a few photocatalysts with both high efficiency and excellent stability. So the photocatalytic water splitting technology still has a long way to go until practical application is possible.