Sustainable hydrogen production by water decomposition in gamma radiolysis with post‐modification studies of nano‐<scp>BeO</scp> photocatalyst

Abstract Background There is a great demand for green hydrogen energy due to climate issues and economic pressures globally. Therefore, hydrogen production was achieved by water splitting using a nano‐BeO photocatalyst. Results The hydrogen produced using BeO + H 2 O ads and nano‐BeO + H 2 O liq systems was 9.0 × 10 16 (at 7 h) and 32.8 × 10 16 (at 5 h) molecules g −1 at 300 K. The hydrogen production was optimized by raising the temperature in the BeO + H 2 O ads system and the maximum hydrogen obtained was 7.0 × 10 17 and 8.5 × 10 17 molecules g −1 in thermal and radiation–thermal processes at 673 K for 5 h. The ranges of the values of W Т (Н 2 ), W R (Н 2 ) and W RT (Н 2 ) at 373, 473, 573 and 673 K were 2.34 × 10 13 to 37.9 × 10 13 , 8.8 × 10 13 to 51.6 × 10 13 and 9.22 × 10 13 to 79.4 × 10 13 , respectively. The values of G (H 2 ) at these temperatures were 5.18, 11.3, 23.7 and 32.8 molecules (100 eV) −1 , respectively. The effect of γ ‐radiation on the nano‐BeO surface was studied by electron paramagnetic resonance, which showed some localized defects on the volume traps. The concentration of such volume traps was very small, i.e. 4 × 10 −2 eV of the total number of traps. Conclusion Approximately 90–96% of all non‐equilibrium carriers formed on the beryllium oxide surface interacted with adsorbed water molecules, responsible for the high catalytic capacity of nano‐BeO. The mechanism of water splitting on the nano‐BeO surface was developed. Finally, the reported methods are useful for hydrogen production on a large scale. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).