Photo-conversion of carbon monoxide with water and hydrogen: Lowering the carbon footprint of carbon monoxide valorization

Artificial photo-synthetic carbon fixation utilizing eco-friendly feedstocks, renewable solar energy, and innovative reaction pathways offers a promising route for lowering the carbon footprint of chemical production. Compared to conventional thermal catalytic processes, CO photo-conversion offers many advantages including low-energy-input requirements, reduced infrastructure requirements, and enhanced selectivity for value-added products. Substantial progress has been made recently in the design of catalysts with high activity and selectivity for photo-driven CO conversion with water (water-gas shift) and hydrogen (Fischer-Tropsch synthesis). This perspective overviews these exciting recent advances, describing how CO photo-conversion could potentially contribute to a sustainable chemical manufacturing industry with a low carbon footprint. We dissect the challenges of CO photo-conversion technologies based on green reactant production strategies, improved solar-to-chemical energy conversion efficiencies, and strategies to circumvent CO2 formation, informing the rational design of new catalyst platforms and reactor designs for greener CO valorization with sunlight.