AUTHOR=Park Young Ho , Murali G. , Modigunta Jeevan Kumar Reddy , In Insik , In Su-Il 

TITLE=Recent Advances in Quantum Dots for Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction: A Mini-Review

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.734108

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2021.734108

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=Solar energy-driven carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction into valuable solar fuels/chemicals (e.g., methane, ethanol, and carbon monoxide) using particulate photocatalysts is regarded as one of the promising and effective approaches to deal with the energy scarcity and global warming. The growth of nanotechnology played an eminent role in improving the CO2 reduction efficiencies by means of offering opportunities to tailor the morphology of photocatalysts at nanoscale regime to achieve enhancement in surface reactivity, solar light absorption, and charge separation, which are decisive factors for the high CO2 reduction efficiency. Notably, quantum dots (QDs), tiny pieces of semiconductors with sizes below 20 nm, offering a myriad of advantages including maximum surface atoms, very short charge migration lengths, size-dependent energy band positions, multiple exciton generation effect, and unique optical properties, have recently become a rising star in the CO2 reduction application. In this review, we briefly summarize the so far achieved progress in QDs-assisted CO2 photoreduction with highlighting the advantages of QDs prepared with diverse chemical compositions such metal oxides, metal chalcogenides, carbon, metal halide perovskites, and MXenes.