Photocatalytic Systems for Carbon Dioxide Conversion to Hydrocarbons

CO2 emissions are a major contributor to the climate change due to the increase of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. CO2 represents 70% of greenhouse gas emissions come essentially from human activities during the combustion of fossil resources such as petrol, natural gas, etc. Many initiatives that allow reducing the CO2 concentration are developed. One of the most promising approaches is to convert CO2 into fuels and into valuable chemicals through photocatalysis process. The CO2 photoreduction into hydrocarbon is a promising method to convert CO2 taking advantage of the readily available solar energy. To achieve the goal, it is necessary to develop an efficient photocatalyst and enhance both the CO2 reduction and the efficiency yields. This chapter reviews recent developments, challenges, and novel approaches of CO2 photoconversion for sustainable fuels. These include providing the photocatalytic properties of UV and visible light photocatalysts applied to CO2 reduction, as well as the recent advances in the design of photocatalytic systems. At the same time, doping TiO2 material with various metals or used as heterojunction allows an improvement photocatalytic activity under visible irradiation. Moreover, the effect of the doping can induce unique properties such as extended light absorption range, charge separation, and also an efficient reactivity. The contribution of carbon-based material and porous materials to the enhanced visible light-driven photocatalysis will be included. So, attractive properties make these materials as a good photocatalysts with immense potential in the elaboration of efficient visible light photocatalysts.