Response to the Comment by T. Maluangnont on “Interlayer Atomic Voids by Partial Cesium Defect in Layered Titanate Activate Photo(electro)catalytic H ₂ and O ₂ Generation”

The Comment (DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.5c03253) by T. Maluangnont on the recent study ( ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 2025, 8 (20), 15079−15091) proposes an alternative explanation to the synthesis mechanisms and final structure of the catalyst reported in the paper, which is based on: (i) proton exchange from the aqueous medium instead of exchange with CTAB; and (ii) phase transition to anatase that contributes to reduce the electronic band gap. We find these assumptions inaccurate and consider that they misinterpret some key aspects of our results by drawing unsupported parallels to previous reports on cesium titanates and layered titanates. These comparisons do not fairly apply to our system because the materials synthesized in our work, along with their processing conditions and defect-engineering strategy, are distinct in both composition and structure. We therefore address each point raised in the Comment individually and demonstrate, with direct experimental and computational evidence, that the interpretations presented in our original paper are scientifically sound, internally consistent, and fully justified.