Photocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction (CO2R) technology towards carbon neutrality is a green and sustainable method to produce carbonous feedstocks (e.g., methane, ethanol, acetic acid). However, the relatively low CO2R efficiency and unsatisfactory selectivity towards target products hinder its scale-up implementation. Photocatalysts and operating conditions are pivotal in tuning the catalytic environment and governing CO2R activity. Herein, the photocatalytic CO2R mechanism and conversion pathways for main C1/C2/C3 products are elaborated. Then, the recent advances in promoting CO2 photoreduction efficiency and selectivity are summarized and discussed, paying special attention to the catalyst design approaches (defect design and interfacing engineering), as well as the operating conditions (e.g., light intensity and wavelength, pH, CO2 pressure/concentration, solvent volume, dissolved oxygen, and coexisting ions) which directly affect the catalytic environment. Future researches on photocatalytic CO2R are proposed in terms of efficient catalyst design, intrinsic transformation mechanism, and sustainable application-oriented CO2R technologies. The insights obtained will advance our mechanistic understanding of regulating CO2R pathways, and help drive the adoption of sustainable and highly efficient strategies for producing desired products.

中文翻译：

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优化光催化 CO2 水溶液还原效率和选择性的策略：催化剂设计和操作条件


实现碳中和的光催化二氧化碳 （CO2） 还原 （CO2R） 技术是一种生产含碳原料（例如甲烷、乙醇、乙酸）的绿色和可持续方法。然而，相对较低的 CO2R 效率和对目标产品的选择性不令人满意，阻碍了其放大实施。光催化剂和操作条件对于调节催化环境和控制 CO2R 活性至关重要。本文阐述了 C1/C2/C3 主要产物的光催化 CO2R 机理和转化途径。然后，总结和讨论了提高 CO2 光还原效率和选择性的最新进展，特别关注直接影响催化环境的催化剂设计方法（缺陷设计和接口工程）以及操作条件（例如，光强度和波长、pH、CO2 压力/浓度、溶剂体积、溶解氧和共存离子）。从高效的催化剂设计、本征转化机制和可持续的面向应用的 CO2R 技术方面提出了光催化 CO2R 的未来研究。获得的见解将促进我们对调节 CO2R 途径的机制理解，并有助于推动采用可持续和高效的策略来生产所需的产品。