A review on recent advances in metal chalcogenide-based photocatalysts for CO2 reduction

Substantial increase in CO2 emissions and depletion in the availability of fossil fuels will bring a crisis in the economy and environmental conditions for future life on this planet, where these problems are directly interlinked to each other. Considering this crisis as a severe problem, photocatalytic CO2 reduction have received appreciable research attention. Among many known photocatalysts, metal chalcogenides are a better choice with their feasible photoresponse range and favourable band structure alignment. This review mainly highlights the applicability and usage of various metal chalcogenides (sulphides, selenides and tellurides) for CO2 photoreduction and various methods of tailoring these catalysts for this purpose. The catalysts discussed give out an environmental and industrial friendly conversion of CO2 to C1 and C2 fuels. An effort has been made to focus on the thermodynamic and kinetic factors governing the mechanism and product formation in this process which helps in understanding the underlying selectivity and reactivity. This review is expected to be a handy reference for the quest and exploration of highly efficient photocatalytic metal chalcogenides for CO2 photoreduction and provide a further understanding of the underlying mechanism.