Cu-based materials as co-catalysts for photocatalytic CO2 reduction: A mini review

Excessive CO2 discharge severely endangers human and urgently need to be well addressed. Photocatalytic CO2 reduction into high value-added chemicals is a promising approach to realize green conversion of CO2 even some challenges, such as low efficiency, bad selectivity, and instability should be overcome. In this regard, the Cu based co-catalysts has potential to address those issues and has aroused ever-increasing attention, currently. This mini review starts with the roles and fundamentals of co-catalysts for photocatalytic CO2 reduction, emphasize the effects of Cu-based co-catalysts on the crystal structure of host semiconductors, such as regular crystal facets and induced defects, systematically summarize the positive role of Cu-based co-catalysts in providing abundant adsorption and active sites, promoting the separation of photogenerated charge, and optimizing reaction kinetics, and finally presents the future research directions and the challenges of Cu-based co-catalysts and beyond.