Surface Defects in Two-Dimensional Photocatalysts for Efficient Organic Synthesis

Photocatalytic organic synthesis, utilizing economical and clean solar energy, can significantly decrease fossil energy consumption and environmental pollution but still suffers from low conversion efficiency and poor selectivity. Exploring advanced two-dimensional (2D) photocatalysts by introducing surface defects such as vacancy, functional modification, hybrid structure, and structural distortions are demonstrated to be effective strategies for increasing conversion efficiency and selectivity of relevant photocatalytic reactions. This review provides an overview of recent reports about the roles of surface defect engineering played on organic synthesis of 2D photocatalysts. In detail, a series of selective organic reactions and conversions of CO2 to valuable organic chemicals along with their corresponding mechanisms are presented, clarifying relationships between the introduced defects and photocatalytic performances of 2D photocatalysts. Finally, the difficulties and challenges as well as personal perspectives of possible solutions on designing advanced 2D photocatalysts by surface defect engineering for organic synthesis are proposed.