Recent progress and challenge in research of photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to solar fuels

Photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide is one of the important development directions for solar energy conversion and utilization. A main task is to build an efficient photocatalytic reaction system. This review article introduces the recent research state of photocatalytic reduction of CO2, including a summary on basic mechanism for photocatalysis and the methods for improving the energy conversion efficiency, the method of microstructure design, crystal engineering, electronic structure design to improve the catalytic activity of photocatalytic materials, the basic physical and chemical problems during photocatalytic reaction and the main way of developing efficient photocatalytic materials. We have point out the key factors affecting the energy conversion efficiency and the significance on the study of thermodynamics and kinetics of photocatalytic reaction. The new photochemical reduction pathway of CO2 and the future development direction of this field were viewed.