Metal-Organic Frameworks for Photocatalytic CO₂ Reduction: Progress and Prospects.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Catalysis
• Renewable Energy

Background:

• Fossil fuel dependence drives global energy and environmental crises.
• Artificial photosynthetic systems (APS) offer carbon-negative solutions.
• Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) show promise for photocatalytic CO2 reduction (CO2RR).

Purpose of the Study:

• To review strategies for enhancing MOF photocatalytic performance in CO2RR.
• To focus on photon harvesting, charge transfer, and multicarbon product generation.
• To analyze structural design principles for C-C coupling in MOFs.

Main Methods:

• Engineering MOF metal nodes, organic linkers, and pore microenvironments.
• Evaluating advancements in light absorption, charge separation, and active site design.
• Establishing structure-property relationships for MOF catalysts.

Main Results:

• MOFs offer tunable architectures for superior CO2RR selectivity, efficiency, and stability.
• Linker functionalization improves light absorption; conductive pathways enhance charge separation.
• Tailored active sites and pore confinement optimize kinetic control and C-C coupling.

Conclusions:

• MOFs bridge atomic-scale tunability with macroscopic catalytic efficacy for CO2 conversion.
• This review provides a roadmap for developing high-performance MOF photocatalysts.
• MOFs accelerate the transition to scalable, solar-driven, carbon-negative energy systems.