Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2026, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (2): 100164.doi: 10.1016/j.actphy.2025.100164

• REVIEW • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Engineering efficient metal-organic frameworks for photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Guoqiang Peng1, Xiuyan Li2, Min Li1, Zhibo Su1, Falu Hu1,*(), Guowei Zhou1,*()   

  1. 1 Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals in Universities of Shandong, Jinan Engineering Laboratory for Multi-scale Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250353, Shandong Province, China
    2 School of Chemical Engineering and Environment, Shandong Engineering Research Center of Green and High-Value Marine Fine Chemical, Weifang University of Science and Technology, Weifang 262700, Shandong Province, China
  • Received:2025-07-12 Revised:2025-08-14 Accepted:2025-08-17 Published:2025-12-03
  • Contact: Email: faluhu@qlu.edu.cn (Falu Hu)gwzhou@qlu.edu.cn (Guowei Zhou)

Abstract:

Over the past decades, excessive CO2 emissions have led to various environmental issues. Solar-driven photocatalytic conversion of CO2 into valuable chemicals offers a promising solution for energy and environmental problems. Recently, a class of porous coordination polymers that self-assemble from organic linkers and metal ions or clusters, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), have been widely explored for photoinduced CO2 conversion because of their great CO2 capture ability and adjustable structures. However, the development of MOFs with high efficiency for CO2 conversion remains a significant challenge. In this review, we elaborate on four key engineering strategies for constructing efficient MOFs toward photocatalytic CO2 reduction: ligand engineering, secondary building unit (SBU) engineering, defect engineering, and morphology engineering. These strategies focus on optimizing key structural properties of MOFs that critically influence their catalytic performance in CO2 photoreduction, notably light absorption, CO2 adsorption capacity, and charge separation and transport. The established design principles and modulation strategies demonstrate broad applicability and can be extended to guide the rational design of diverse MOF-based functional systems. Furthermore, we critically evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy, highlighting their specific contributions and inherent limitations. Finally, we outline the development prospects and identify promising future research directions for MOF-based photocatalytic CO2 reduction.

Key words: MOFs, Photocatalytic CO2 conversion, Ligand modulation, SBU engineering, Defective engineering, Morphology modulation