Toward Tailoring Metal-Organic Frameworks for Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2 to Fuels

The conversion of CO2 into commercially available chemical fuels is a meaningful strategy for mitigating the greenhouse effect. Photocatalytic CO2 reduction is an attractive strategy due to its clean and environmentally friendly properties, and seeking efficient photocatalysts is crucial to accomplish high yield and selectivity of CO2. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are favorable for photocatalytic reactions due to their high specific surface areas and abundant active sites. To facilitate the search for practical, green, and sustainable MOF photocatalysts, this paper summarizes the effects of different preparation processes on the photoresponsiveness and pore structure of MOFs, and describes the challenges of large-scale industrial production in the future. Moreover, the mechanism of MOFs photocatalytic reduction of CO2 and the factors affecting the photocatalytic performance were summarized in detail. Based on this, this review focuses on the design of band structure, construction of heterojunction, and design of goal-oriented MOF morphology to propose modification strategies and point out the key to improving photocatalytic performance. Finally, the challenges and application prospects of MOFs in photocatalytic reduction of CO2 are further discussed.