Advanced Strategies for Improving the Photocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation Performance: A Short Review

As an indispensable energy source, ammonia plays a significant role in industrial and agricultural production. Given that the current ammonia production is still dominated by the energy-intensive and high-carbon-footprint Haber–Bosch process, photocatalysts for nitrogen reduction represent a low-energy-consuming and sustainable approach to generate ammonia, which have received extensive attention and research. However, photocatalytic nitrogen fixation materials have limitations, such as the difficulty in N2 adsorption and activation and the recombination of photogenerated carriers. It is still a serious challenge to improve the photocatalytic nitrogen fixation performance to realize its industrial application. It is crucial to master and explore the strategies for improving the performance of photocatalysts. Therefore, this paper reviews the traditional and emerging strategies for improving the performance of photocatalytic nitrogen fixation and briefly prospects the existing challenges and future opportunities. This review is expected to provide momentous breakthroughs on photocatalysts for artificial nitrogen fixation in the next stage.