Multi-field driven hybrid catalysts for CO2 reduction: Progress, mechanism and perspective

Light, heat and electricity are three main types of essential energy that drive various kinds of chemical reactions. Although current photocatalysts, thermocatalysts and electrocatalysts provide effective solutions, great obstacles remain when considering the energy cost and production efficiency in CO2 reduction. To promote the CO2 transformation into value-added chemicals and realize net reduction, hybrid catalysts driven by related physical fields have been developed and exhibited great merits in terms of product yield, energy efficiency and tuning dimension. By posing impacts on the reactive intermediates or carriers transport, emerging synergetic field effects in multi-field catalysis have been proven to be beneficial in various reactions. Here, we clarify the correlations among several tuning fields during catalytic process, including light, thermal, electric, magnetic and mechanical fields, then classify them into photo-, thermal- or electric-dominant catalysis. This review study on multi-field involved catalytic strategy reveals the development of hybrid catalysts, and proposes further perspective in both theoretical design and practical applications.