Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2023, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (4): 580-598.doi: 10.1007/s40242-023-3123-0

• Reviews • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Sub-nanomaterials for Photo/Electro-catalytic CO2 Reduction: Achievements, Challenges, and Opportunities

WANG Xinyi, ZHAO Zhenwei, ZAHRA Kiran, LI Junjun, ZHANG Zhicheng   

  1. Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tianjin University & Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin 300072, P.R. China
  • Received:2023-05-14 Online:2023-08-01 Published:2023-07-18
  • Contact: ZHANG Zhicheng E-mail:zczhang19@tju.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.22071172).

Abstract: With the increasing dilemma of energy crisis and climate change caused by excessive greenhouse gas emissions, it is an effective way to design low-cost and efficient catalysts to recycle CO2 into value-added chemicals and fuels to solve these problems. Downsizing catalysts close to a single crystal cell, sub-nanomaterials(SNMs) show unique size-dependent properties and great potential applications in CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) compared with conventional nanomaterials. In this review, basic principles of CO2RR and brief classification of SNMs are elucidated. Then, recent advances of SNMs in photo/electro-catalytic CO2 reduction are comprehensively summarized. Finally, the current challenges and future outlooks are emphasized to pave the development of CO2RR on SNMs. It is anticipated that this review would provide new insights to this unique scale and guided information on rational construction of SNMs for photo/electro-catalytic CO2RR.

Key words: Sub-nanomaterial, CO2 reduction, Electrocatalysis, Photocatalysis, Photoelectrocatalysis