Self-assembled supramolecular materials for photocatalytic H₂ production and CO₂ reduction

Photosynthetic organisms harness solar radiation to produce energy-rich compounds from water and atmospheric CO₂ via exquisite supramolecular assemblies, which offers a design principle for highly efficient artificial photocatalytic systems. As an emerging research field, significant effort has been devoted to self-assembled supramolecular materials for photocatalytic H₂ production and CO₂ reduction. In this review, we introduce the basic concepts of supramolecular photocatalytic materials. After that, we will discuss recent advances in the preparation of supramolecular photocatalytic materials from zero-dimension to three-dimension which include molecular assemblies, micelles, hybrid nanoparticles, nanofibers, nanosheets, microcrystals, lipid bilayers, supramolecular organic frameworks, supramolecular metal-organic frameworks, gels, and host-guest metal-organic frameworks, etc. Furthermore, we show the recent progress in the photocatalytic properties of supramolecular photocatalytic materials, i.e. photocatalytic proton reduction, water splitting, CO₂ to HCOOH, CO₂ to CO, CO₂ to CH₄ conversions, etc. Finally, we provide our perspective for the future research, with a focus on the development of new structures and highly efficient photocatalysis.