Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2026, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (3): 833-857.doi: 10.1007/s40242-025-5279-2

• Review Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Local Microenvironment Regulation of Covalent Organic Frameworks for Enhanced Photocatalysis

ZHANG Zihan1, SHEN Rongchen1, REN Zhiqiang2, LIANG Guijie3, ZHANG Peng4, LI Shijie5, LI Xin1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Chemical Engineering, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, P. R. China;
    2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P. R. China;
    3. Hubei Key Lab of Low DimensOptoelect Mat & Devices, Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang, 441053, P. R. China;
    4. State Centre for International Cooperation on Designer Low-Carbon & Environmental Materials (CDLCEM), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, P. R. China;
    5. Key Laboratory of Health Risk Factors for Seafood of Zhejiang Province, National Engineering Research Center for Marine Aquaculture, College of Marine Science and Technology, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, 316022, P. R. China
  • Received:2025-11-25 Accepted:2025-12-15 Published:2026-06-02
  • Contact: LI Xin,E-mail:Xinli@scau.edu.cn;LI Shijie,E-mail:lishijie@zjou.edu.cn;ZHANG Peng,E-mail:zhangp@zzu.edu.cn;LIANG Guijie,E-mail:guijie-liang@hbuas.edu.cn E-mail:Xinli@scau.edu.cn;lishijie@zjou.edu.cn;zhangp@zzu.edu.cn;guijie-liang@hbuas.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22378148, 21975084, 22308113) and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2024A1515012433).

Abstract: Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as promising photocatalysts due to their designable pore structures, high surface areas, and tunable electronic properties. However, their practical applications are often hindered by inherent limitations, such as high exciton binding energy, poor charge carrier mobility, and sluggish interfacial reaction kinetics. Recently, local microenvironment regulation has proven to be an effective strategy to enhance the photocatalytic performance of COFs. This review comprehensively summarizes various regulation approaches, including element doping, polar functional group modulation, pore size and structure engineering, structure regulation, molecular structure fabrication, linkage regulation, post-synthetic ionic functionalization, chemical bond regulation, and layer-stacking strategy. These methods enable precise control over the electronic structure, pore polarity, and active-site microenvironment of COFs, thereby significantly improving the photogenerated charge separation, reactant adsorption, and catalytic conversion efficiency. This review highlights the successful application of these strategies in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution, CO2 reduction, and H2O2 production. It concludes with perspectives on future challenges in green synthesis, multi-scale microenvironment engineering, mechanistic understanding, and device integration for sustainable solar-to-chemical energy conversion.

Key words: Covalent organic framework, Photocatalysis, Local microenvironment regulation, Reaction pathway, Performance regulation