Photocatalytic CO2 reduction in metal-organic frameworks: A mini review

Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 for value-added chemicals is an attractive process to address both energy and environmental issues. This mini review paper presents two different conversion processes, namely conversion to organic chemicals (like CH4, CH3OH, HCOOH and so on) and being split into CO, in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The reported examples are collected and analyzed; and the reaction mechanism, the influence of various factors on the photocatalytic performance, the involved challenges, and the prospects are discussed and estimated. It is clear that MOFs have a bright prospect in the field of photocatalytic reduction of CO2. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.