Strategies for improving the photocatalytic performance of metal-organic frameworks for CO2 reduction: A review

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction is an appealing strategy for mitigating the environmental effects of greenhouse gases while simultaneously producing valuable carbon-neutral fuels. Numerous attempts have been made to produce effective and efficient photocatalysts for CO2 reduction. In contrast, the selection of competitive catalysts continues to be a substantial hindrance and a considerable difficulty in the development of photocatalytic CO2 reduction. It is vital to emphasize different techniques for building effective photocatalysts to improve CO2 reduction performance in order to achieve a long-term sustainability. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are recently emerging as a new type of photocatalysts for CO2 reduction due to their excellent CO2 adsorption capability and unique structural characteristics. This review examines the most recent breakthroughs in various techniques for modifying MOFs in order to improve their efficiency of photocatalytic CO2 reduction. The advantages of MOFs using as photocatalysts are summarized, followed by different methods for enhancing their effectiveness for photocatalytic CO2 reduction via partial ion exchange of metal clusters, design of bimetal clusters, the modification of organic linkers, and the embedding of metal complexes. For integrating MOFs with semiconductors, metallic nanoparticles (NPs), and other materials, a number of different approaches have been also reviewed. The final section of this review discusses the existing challenges and future prospects of MOFs as photocatalysts for CO2 reduction. Hopefully, this review can stimulate intensive research on the rational design and development of more effective MOF-based photocatalysts for visible-light driven CO2 conversion.