Continuous-flow photochemistry: An expanding horizon of sustainable technology

Understanding the unique characteristics of continuous-flow photochemistry will lead to a paradigm shift in the way we enhance sustainability and wellbeing. In this mini-review, we first provide a succinct overview of working principles of this technique and discuss several recent synthetic protocols. Then, emphasis is given to those representative examples which address environmental issues such as indoor air pollutants and water contamination. Finally, recent progress made using this technique to deal with rising CO2 emission, solar energy utilization and biomedical equipment is described. It is believed that this mini-review could inspire more chemists to utilize this technique in their research, either in the academic or industrial field.