简介：Hydrogen,thecleanestandmostpromisingenergyvector,canbeproducedbysolarintochemicalenergyconversion,eitherbythephotocatalyticdirectsplittingofwaterintoH2andO2,or,moreefficiently,inthepresenceofsacrificialreagents,e.g.,intheso-calledphotoreformingoforganics.Efficientphotocatalyticmaterialsshouldnotonlybeabletoexploitsolarradiationtoproduceelectron–holepairs,butalsoensureenoughchargeseparationtoallowelectrontransferreactions,leadingtosolarenergydriventhermodynamicallyup-hillprocesses.RecentachievementsofourresearchgroupinthedevelopmentandtestingofinnovativeTiO2-basedphotocatalyticmaterialsarepresentedhere,togetherwithanoverviewonthemechanisticaspectsofwaterphotosplittingandphotoreformingoforganics.Photocatalyticmaterialswereeither（i）obtainedbysurfacemodificationofcommercialphotocatalysts,orproduced（ii）inpowderformbydifferenttechniques,includingtraditionalsolgelsynthesis,aimingatengineeringtheirelectronicstructure,andflamespraypyrolysisstartingfromorganicsolutionsoftheprecursors,or（iii）inintegratedform,toproducephotoelectrodeswithindevices,byradiofrequencymagnetronsputteringorbyelectrochemicalgrowthofnanotubearchitectures,orphotocatalyticmembranes,bysupersonicclusterbeamdeposition.