Crafting an active center with a local charge density gradient to facilitate photocatalytic ethylene production from CO2

Visible-light-driven conversion of CO2 into fuels or useful chemicals is a promising methodology for solving the world's energy crises and the rising atmospheric CO2 level. The re-ported products from CO2 photocatalytic reduction are mainly C1 products, and C2 products with higher values, such as ethylene, are sparsely reported or produced at low selectivity. This short review summarizes the published work in the last 2 years on ethylene production via photocatalytic CO2 reduction, emphasizing the importance of the induced local charge den-sity gradient in boosting CO2 reduction and promoting ethylene production. We aim to promote the fundamental understanding of photocatalytic CO2 reduction to ethylene via providing fresh insights and rational design strategies for optimizing and developing suitable photocatalytic systems.

Automated summary

This article summarizes the research on ethylene production through photocatalytic CO2 reduction in the past two years, emphasizing the importance of the induced local charge density gradient in enhancing CO2 reduction and promoting ethylene production.