Issue 8, 2021

Construction of a Z-scheme heterojunction for high-efficiency visible-light-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Abstract

The continuous growth of fossil fuel consumption and large amounts of CO2 emissions have caused global energy crisis and climate change. The employment of semiconductor photocatalysts to convert CO2 into value-added products has attracted extensive attention and research worldwide in recent years. However, it is difficult for a single-component semiconductor photocatalyst to achieve this goal efficiently due to its drawbacks, such as low quantum efficiency, limited surface area, limited number of active sites, the short lifetime of photogenerated carriers, poor long-term stability, and the weak redox ability of carriers. Fortunately, inspired by photosynthesis, the construction of an artificial Z-scheme heterojunction has brought a new dawn for the realization of this goal. The Z-scheme heterojunction has a high separation efficiency of electron–hole pairs with strong redox ability and a wide light response range. The abovementioned advantages make the Z-scheme heterojunction provide a great opportunity for the conversion of CO2 to value-added chemicals. This review concisely reports the progress of the Z-scheme heterojunction in the field of photocatalytic CO2 reduction in recent years, photocatalytic mechanism, choice of oxidation and reduction systems, strategies for improving efficiency, confirmation of the Z-scheme charge transport mechanism, problems and challenges, and the prospects for the future.

Graphical abstract: Construction of a Z-scheme heterojunction for high-efficiency visible-light-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
27 Nov 2020
Accepted
23 Jan 2021
First published
26 Jan 2021

Nanoscale, 2021,13, 4359-4389

Construction of a Z-scheme heterojunction for high-efficiency visible-light-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction

G. Zhang, Z. Wang and J. Wu, Nanoscale, 2021, 13, 4359 DOI: 10.1039/D0NR08442E

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