Zhe Wang, Chun Hong Mak, Jianpei Feng, Hsin-Hui Shen, Bin Han, Shella Permatasari Santoso, Mingjian Yuan, Fang-Fang Li, Haisheng Song, Duu-Jong Lee, Juan Carlos Colmenares, Hsien-Yi Hsu
The over-use of fossil fuels leads to a sharp increase in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), which seriously contributes to the energy crisis and climate problems. The direct transformation of CO2 into high-value chemicals through photocatalysis offers an effective way to mitigate these problems. The key to achieving this goal is to discover a cost-effective, highly efficient, and durable photocatalyst. Due to their straightforward synthesis, high light absorption capacity, rapid exciton production efficiency, and long carrier diffusion length, nanoscale halide perovskites (NHPs) have great potential for solar photocatalysis. However, several crucial problems, like poor long-term stability, low product selectivity, and severe charge recombination, have become bottlenecks in the development of NHP photocatalysts. Therefore, this review aims to summarize the principles of the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR), the structural features of halide perovskites nanocrystals (NCs) in the system, and the principal approaches to enhancing their photocatalytic activity. Factors that influence the selectivity of CO2RR final products are also discussed. Moreover, this review pays special attention to the techniques for studying photogenerated carrier transport processes and photocatalytic intermediates, which make a significant contribution to the insight into the reaction mechanism of photocatalytic CO2 reduction. Finally, the main challenges and prospects for NHP's further development are also presented. This review will offer instructions for the design of NHP photocatalysts to further enhance the photocatalytic performance and product selectivity for CO2 reduction. It will also offer insights into studying the charge transport process and mechanism for the CO2 photocatalytic reduction reaction. © 2024 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
School of Energy and Environment, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Centre for Functional Photonics (CFP), City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong; Shenzhen Research Institute, City University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, 518057, China; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia; Materials Institute of Atomic and Molecular Science, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi'an, 710021, China; Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1037 Luoyu Road, Hubei, Wuhan, 430074, China; Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, Warsaw, 01-224, Poland; School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei, Wuhan, 430074, China; Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry, Ministry of Education, Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China; Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong; Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Widya Mandala Surabaya Catholic University, East Java, Surabaya, 60114, Indonesia; Engineering Research Institute (In3), Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Medellín, 50031, Colombia