Selectivity studies and modification strategies for high-efficiency photocatalytic CO2 reduction to methanol products

Abstract

Research on photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂) has extensively progressed. Among the photocatalytic CO₂ reduction products, methanol (CH₃OH) has attracted interest from scientists as an important liquid product. However, during the reduction process, there are significant challenges in terms of the selectivity for realizing CH₃OH owing to a six-electron transfer process towards achieving methane (CH₄) and inefficient CO₂ conversion performance. Hence, this work is focused on the studies related to the product selectivity of photocatalytic CO₂ reduction and strategies for the modification of photocatalysts in order to obtain CH₃OH. The related photocatalytic selectivity mechanism is introduced, and the strategies to modify photocatalysts for the conversion of CO₂ to CH₃OH (elemental doping, defect engineering, co-catalyst loading, construction of heterojunctions, surface functional groups, plasma engineering, etc.) are comprehensively described. Finally, the challenges and future development prospects in achieving a higher efficiency and selectivity in photocatalytic CO₂ reduction to CH₃OH are summarized.