Solar-Driven Photothermal Hydrogen Production: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Photothermal hydrogen production has emerged as a promising solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion strategy that integrates photon and thermal energy harvesting to overcome the intrinsic limitations of conventional photocatalysis. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in photothermal hydrogen production, emphasizing how light absorption, charge carrier relaxation, and nonradiative heat generation synergistically enable efficient catalytic conversion. The structural and interfacial engineering strategies, including nanoscale modulation, core–shell and hollow architectures, and plasmonic coupling, that enhance light-heat conversion and optimize carrier dynamics are highlighted. Beyond material-level design, the emerging concept of thermal environment engineering is discussed, which reconstructs reaction interfaces from liquid-solid to gas-solid phases through “evaporation-conversion” coupling, thereby improving energy utilization and hydrogen evolution kinetics. Mechanistic insights are further connected to recent developments in machine learning-assisted catalyst discovery, which offers a data-driven pathway toward intelligent design of photothermal systems. Finally, the review outlines the challenges and future opportunities for achieving high-efficiency, stable, and scalable solar-driven photothermal hydrogen production, providing a conceptual framework that bridges fundamental understanding with practical implementation.