Jin Hyeok Kim received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea in 1996. From 1996 to 1999, he worked as a Post-Doc at the University of California, Santa Barbara, California, and Osaka University, Japan. Since 1999, he has been a professor at Chonnam National University, South Korea. He has been leading a research group of copper chalcogenides-based thin film solar cells as well as photoelectrochemical (PEC) and electrocatalytic water splitting based on earth-abundant constituents and scalable solution-processing to realize efficient solar energy conversion.

Hydrogen is gaining significance in the worldwide transition to renewable energy sources, but the technologies used to produce it currently are mostly carbon-intensive and unsustainable. The current developments in environmentally friendly hydrogen generation by electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water splitting with readily available earth-based catalysts are the main topic of this plenary discussion. We will explore the development and application of innovative, cost-effective catalysts derived from earth-abundant elements such as iron, nickel, and cobalt, which show promising performance in both processes, potentially surpassing the efficiency of precious metal-based catalysts while significantly reducing production costs. The presentation will cover the current state of hydrogen production and its environmental impact, the principles of electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water splitting, design strategies for high-activity and stable earth-abundant catalysts, recent breakthroughs in catalyst materials and nanostructures, performance comparisons between earth-abundant and precious metal catalysts, as well as challenges and opportunities in scaling up these technologies. By highlighting these cutting-edge developments, this talk aims to demonstrate the viability of earth-abundant catalysts in advancing sustainable hydrogen production, establishing the way for a cleaner and more economically feasible hydrogen-based energy future.