Recent progress on photo-electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide

Ever-increasing carbon dioxide emission has led to serious greenhouse effect and global warming in recent years. Photo-electrocatalysis is the most significant approach to convert carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels to alleviate the greenhouse effect as well as ensure the global carbon cycling with inexhaustible solar energy resource. There are four typical configurations in the photo-electrocatalytic (PEC) carbon dioxide reduction system, i.e., photocathode coupling with anode cell, photoanode combining with cathode cell, photocathode integrating photoanode cell, and a photovoltaic-photo-electrocatalytic tandem cell. This review briefly summarizes the state-of-the-art progress of above four configurations for photo-electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction with a focus on the rational design of the electrode materials to achieve higher efficiency. In addition, the innovative design of the PEC system for efficient carbon dioxide reduction has also been concisely introduced. Finally, the perspectives on the challenges and future development of photo-electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction based on the discussed configurations are presented