Rational Design and Application of Covalent Organic Frameworks for Solar Fuel Production

Harnessing solar energy and converting it into renewable fuels by chemical processes, such as water splitting and carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction, is a highly promising yet challenging strategy to mitigate the effects arising from the global energy crisis and serious environmental concerns. In recent years, covalent organic framework (COF)-based materials have gained substantial research interest because of their diversified architecture, tunable composition, large surface area, and high thermal and chemical stability. Their tunable band structure and significant light absorption with higher charge separation efficiency of photoinduced carriers make them suitable candidates for photocatalytic applications in hydrogen (H₂) generation, CO₂ conversion, and various organic transformation reactions. In this article, we describe the recent progress in the topology design and synthesis method of COF-based nanomaterials by elucidating the structure-property correlations for photocatalytic hydrogen generation and CO₂ reduction applications. The effect of using various kinds of 2D and 3D COFs and strategies to control the morphology and enhance the photocatalytic activity is also summarized. Finally, the key challenges and perspectives in the field are highlighted for the future development of highly efficient COF-based photocatalysts.