Photothermal catalysis: From principles to applications

Photothermal catalysis is a process to combine thermal catalysis and photocatalysis, and it has been extensively reported over the past few years. Thermal catalysis, a conventional and mostly used industrial process, is performed at high temperatures to overcome the activation energy barrier, thus leading to a chemical reaction. A photothermal catalysis process will be established by introducing photon energy into a thermal catalytic process. In this review, an overview of photothermal catalysis is firstly presented, starting from the mostly basic principles of thermal catalysis and photocatalysis. Followed by a classification of photothermal catalysis, the source of thermal energy in photothermal catalysis is discussed in detail. This part enables to provide certain theoretical basis for the subsequent design of photothermal catalysts, etc. Furthermore, a wide range of photothermal catalytic applications are discussed, including environmental applications for organic pollutant degradation and energy applications such as CO2 reduction, ammonia synthesis and hydrogen production from decomposing water. Furthermore, limitations and hindrances of photothermal catalysis are concluded. Lastly, suggestions for future research have also been proposed.