Is Photocatalysis Ready for Scale Yet?

Despite being frequently proposed as a low-carbon solution for wastewater treatment and solar fuel production, the feasibility of photocatalytic processes in large-scale deployments remains unclear. This review evaluates the scalability of photocatalytic technologies by synthesizing a decade (2015–2025) of techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies. Using a systematic search and programmatic screening, 77 assessment-focused publications were identified from an initial corpus of 854 studies. Across applications, TEA and LCA consistently highlight two dominant barriers to scale-up: high electricity demand in UV-driven systems and significant cradle-to-gate impacts associated with catalyst synthesis, particularly for nanostructured materials. When solar irradiation replaces artificial light, environmental and economic hotspots shift from energy use to material production, catalyst durability, and reuse assumptions. Wide variability in reported costs and impacts reflects heterogeneous methodologies, limited pilot-scale data, and a lack of standardized reporting. Overall, assessment-based evidence indicates that photocatalysis is not yet ready for widespread industrial deployment as a large industrial process. However, continuous advances in solar-driven reactor design, low-impact and circular catalyst synthesis, hybrid process integration, and harmonized TEA/LCA frameworks could substantially improve its prospects for scalable, climate-positive implementation, especially in the context of emerging green energy alternatives.