Recent progress of photothermal effect on photocatalytic reduction of CO2

Using photocatalysis to reduce carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons is a promising way to mitigate the greenhouse effect and the energy crisis simultaneously. However, conventional photocatalytic technology is inefficient due to its low utilization of the full spectrum. Photothermal effect can combine the advantages of photocatalysis and thermocatalysis to overcome inherent defects and elevate the catalytic activity by one order of magnitude compared with single photocatalysis. This review focuses on the generation and promotion mechanism of photothermal effect on photocatalytic reduction of CO2. In addition, the developments of several practical catalysts with photothermal effect are presented, including non-precious metal-based catalysts, precious metal-based catalysts, and oxygen vacancy-riched catalysts. Eventually, the prospects and challenges of the applications of the photothermal effect are in consideration, which is instructive for the discovery of non-expensive and efficient photothermal catalysts for photocatalytic reduction of CO2.