Defect Engineering of Photocatalysts towards Elevated CO2 Reduction Performance

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction provides a promising solution to address the crises of massive CO2 emissions and fossil energy shortages. As one of the most effective strategies to promote CO2 photoconversion, defect engineering shows great potential in modulating the electronic structure and light absorption properties of photocatalysts while increasing surface active sites for CO2 activation and conversion. This Review summarizes the recent progress in defect engineering of photocatalysts to promote CO2 reduction performances from the following four aspects: 1) Approaches to defect (mainly vacancy and dopant) generation in photocatalysts; 2) defect structure characterization techniques; 3) physical and chemical properties of defect-engineered photocatalysts; 4) CO2 reduction performance enhancements in activity, selectivity, and stability of photocatalysts by defect engineering. This Review is expected to present readers with a comprehensive view of progress in the field of photocatalytic CO2 reduction through defect engineering for elevated CO2-to-fuels conversion efficiency.

Automated summary

Defect engineering is an effective strategy to enhance photocatalytic CO2 reduction performance. By generating defects mainly in the form of vacancies and dopants, it can modulate the electronic structure and light absorption properties of photocatalysts, increasing surface active sites for CO2 activation and conversion. This approach can improve the CO2 reduction performance of photocatalysts in terms of activity, selectivity, and stability.