Critical Aspects of Metal-Organic Framework-Based Materials for Solar-Driven CO₂ Reduction into Valuable Fuels

Photoreduction of CO₂ into value-added fuels is one of the most promising strategies for tackling the energy crisis and mitigating the "greenhouse effect." Recently, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been widely investigated in the field of CO₂ photoreduction owing to their high CO₂ uptake and adjustable functional groups. The fundamental factors and state-of-the-art advancements in MOFs for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction are summarized from the critical perspectives of light absorption, carrier dynamics, adsorption/activation, and reaction on the surface of photocatalysts, which are the three main critical aspects for CO₂ photoreduction and determine the overall photocatalytic efficiency. In view of the merits of porous materials, recent progress of three other types of porous materials are also briefly summarized, namely zeolite-based, covalent-organic frameworks based (COFs-based), and porous semiconductor or organic polymer based photocatalysts. The remarkable performance of these porous materials for solar-driven CO₂ reduction systems is highlighted. Finally, challenges and opportunities of porous materials for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction are presented, aiming to provide a new viewpoint for improving the overall photocatalytic CO₂ reduction efficiency with porous materials.