The emerging covalent organic frameworks (COFs) for solar-driven fuels production

Abstract

Photocatalysis-driven fuel production has garnered increasing attention as it can potentially address current energy- and environmental-related issues of the 21st century. However, the current performance of materials used for this application is still limited due to poor light absorption, fast photogenerated electron-hole recombination, and inappropriate active sites. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), which offer an excellent platform to construct unique photocatalytic systems, have emerged as potential materials for the production of solar fuels. In this review, we investigate the development of COFs for three primary solar-driven fuel production strategies: (i) hydrogen (H2) production, (ii) carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction, and (iii) dinitrogen (N2) fixation. This review provides a roadmap to design excellent COF-based photocatalysts and highlights current limitations in the field of photocatalysis. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.