Research progress of MOF-based materials in the photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Photocatalytic technology could utilize solar energy to reduce CO2 into high-value-added fossil fuels, providing promising solutions for global energy and environmental issues. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of crystalline porous solids with high porosity and flexible structure. MOF-based photocatalysts have excellent CO2 capture ability, photochemical and structural characteristics and have shown infinite development potential in CO2 reduction. However, in practical large-scale applications, MOF-based photocatalysts still have some urgent problems to be solved, such as high composite rate of photogenerated carriers, limited response range to visible spectrum, poor photocatalytic activity and weak reduction ability. This paper introduces series of MOF-based photocatalysts, including pure MOF materials, compounds, and derivatives, were reviewed based on recent reports. Emphasis was placed on the modification strategy of photocatalysts, the photocatalytic reaction's key physical and chemical parameters, and the mechanism of synergistic improvement of chemical fuel yield. Ultimately and most importantly, the future development trends and prospects of MOF-based catalysts for photocatalytic CO2 reduction were discussed.