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Language: English

Conflict of Interest: In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Publication history: Received March 27, 2024
Revised August 11, 2024
Accepted October 1, 2024
Available online January 25, 2026

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Beyond Water Splitting: Developing Economic Friendly Photoelectrochemical Value‑added Reactions for Green Solar‑to‑Chemical Energy Conversions

Ying Hou Chengkai Xia^† Siyan Wang Qian Lei Yuankai Li Hongyan Xu^† Jung Kyu Kim^†

School of Materials Science and Engineering, North University of China ¹School of Chemical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) ²SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)

ckxia@nuc.edu.cn, xuhongyan@nuc.edu.cn, legkim@skku.edu

Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, January 2026, 43(1), 21-42(22)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-024-00306-y

Abstract

Facing climate change and the fossil fuel crisis, the global need for clean energy is more urgent than ever. Converting solar

energy to produce green hydrogen fuel through photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a feasible strategy for utilizing

solar energy, aligning with the increasing global demand for clean energy production. However, the energy conversion

efficiency and overall economic benefit are severely limited by the slow kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and

the low profitability of oxygen production, hindering the commercial utilization of PEC energy conversion technology. In

the past few years, studies focusing on replacing the OER with PEC value-added reactions, which can produce high-value

products, have received great attention. This not only improves the economic benefits of the general reaction system but also

enhances the energy conversion efficiency. In this review, the basic principles of PEC value-added reactions and feedstockproduct

cost analysis are introduced first. Then, the latest research progress on PEC glycerol oxidation, H2O2

production, and

ammonia splitting is summarized and discussed in detail. Finally, the status of commercial applications, further prospects,

and challenges are discussed.

Keywords

References

Photoelectrochemical · Solar energy · Green hydrogen · H2O2 production · Glycerol oxidation · Ammonia
Splitting