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  • Perspective
  • Published:

Analysis of metal–organic framework-based photosynthetic CO2 reduction

Nature Synthesis volume 3, pages 307–318 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Solar-driven synthetic fuel production couples solar energy conversion and storage in the form of chemical bonds and therefore has potential as a clean technology. The past decade has witnessed the continuous development of metal–organic framework (MOF) materials with considerable interest towards combining light harvesting with catalytic CO2 conversion in one system. Built on a literature survey and data macroanalysis, this Perspective examines the development of this field by showcasing synthetic design approaches and highlighting attained milestones, while critically assessing pitfalls and opportunities. Five MOF-based material classifications for visible light-driven CO2 reduction are determined and discussed through key photocatalysis figures of merits and metrics. Analysis reveals MOFs as a favourable platform to achieve high product-selectivity CO2 photocatalysis. Non-standardized testing and reporting is found throughout this field and non-comparable product evolution rates, unverified carbon and electron source(s), and incomplete reporting checklists are identified as the main roadblocks towards accurate cross-laboratory benchmarking and breakthroughs. This Perspective additionally provides a balanced discussion and best practice recommendations to guide researchers investigating MOF-based materials for photocatalytic CO2 reduction.

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Fig. 1: The development of MOF-based photosynthetic CO2 reduction and contents of this Perspective.
Fig. 2: Synthetic research strategies and classifications.
Fig. 3: Quantitative analysis of literature-reported performance for MOF CO2 photoreduction.
Fig. 4: Overview of literature-applied irradiation conditions, photocatalytic media and assessment of the field.
Fig. 5: Overview highlighting the key accomplishments and remaining challenges discussed within this Perspective.

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Data availability

Source data of literature reports and contained performance metrics (DOI, publication year, main evolved product, selectivity, main product evolution rate, Cx product, irradiation wavelength, lamp power, irradiation power, main solvent, sacrificial electron donor, operation hours, 13C labelling, AQY, TONs and oxidation product) are available as Supplementary information.

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Acknowledgements

P.M.S. and V.R. thank the Chemical Industry Fonds (FCI) for a PhD fellowship. This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) Priority Program 1928 ‘Coordination Networks: Building Blocks for Functional Systems’, the research project MOFMOX (grant number FI 502/43-1) and by the Excellence Cluster 2089 ‘e-conversion’ (Fundamentals of Energy Conversion Processes).

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  1. Chair of Inorganic and Metal-Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center (CRC), TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany

    P. M. Stanley, V. Ramm, R. A. Fischer & J. Warnan

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Contributions

P.M.S. and J.W. conceived the idea and outline for this work. P.M.S. performed the literature overview and metrics analysis. P.M.S. and J.W. wrote the paper with contributions from V.R. and R.A.F. All authors have approved the final version of this paper.

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Correspondence to J. Warnan.

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Nature Synthesis thanks Alina Kampouri, Caroline T. Saouma and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: Alexandra Groves, in collaboration with the Nature Synthesis team.

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Methods for literature search, definition of figures of merit and references.

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Source Data Figs.1–4 Literature analysis.

Full list and description of literature publications on which our analysis is built.

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Stanley, P.M., Ramm, V., Fischer, R.A. et al. Analysis of metal–organic framework-based photosynthetic CO2 reduction. Nat. Synth 3, 307–318 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-024-00490-z

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