Photocatalytic Processes in Visible Light Systems

Photocatalytic systems activated by visible light have emerged as versatile platforms for environmental remediation, solar‐to‐chemical conversion and organic synthesis. These processes rely on semiconductor materials that absorb photons to generate electron–hole pairs, which migrate to surface sites to drive oxidation or reduction reactions. Key strategies to enhance performance include bandgap engineering to extend light absorption into the visible range, heterostructure formation to accelerate charge separation and defect or single‐atom modifications to create highly active catalytic centres. Recent advances span selective hydrocarbon oxidation, CO₂ reduction to fuels and green synthesis of fine chemicals, underscoring the global significance of visible‐light photocatalysis in achieving sustainable chemical production. Through synergistic design of nanostructures, interfaces and active sites, efficiencies, selectivities and operational stability have been markedly improved under ambient conditions.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have achieved significant enhancements in visible‐light photocatalysis through active‐site design and interface engineering. One approach dopes nickel into monolayer Bi₂WO₆, creating cascaded active units of unsaturated metal sites and frustrated Lewis pairs that enable efficient toluene oxidation to benzaldehyde with high selectivity under mild conditions. Another strategy employs a four‐phase interface with Pd@Cu‐decorated TiO₂, which activates benzene at room temperature to produce phenol with exceptional turnover numbers and ca. 93 % selectivity, driven by atomically precise nanoarchitectures and optimised charge separation. Additionally, ultrathin BiOCl nanosheets rich in van der Waals gaps have been shown to lower exciton binding energy, foster defect-mediated CO₂ adsorption and deliver record pure-water CO₂-to-CO rates without co-catalysts or scavengers, demonstrating the power of structural modulation for solar fuel generation.

Photocatalytic Processes in Visible Light Systems publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in photocatalytic processes in visible light systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Photocatalyst: A material that uses visible light to generate electron–hole pairs and drive surface redox reactions.

Bandgap engineering: Adjustment of the energy gap between valence and conduction bands to enhance visible-light absorption.

Cascade active units: Spatially arranged catalytic sites that sequentially facilitate multi-step reactions for higher overall efficiency.

Defect engineering: Introduction or modification of lattice vacancies and substitutions to tune electronic properties and active-site behaviour.

Van der Waals gap: Weakly bonded interlayer region in layered materials that promotes charge separation and reactant access.

References

1. Photocatalytic toluene oxidation with nickel-mediated cascaded active units over Ni/Bi2WO6 monolayers. Nature Communications (2024).
2. Strategies and Challenges on Selectivity of Photocatalytic Oxidation of Organic Substances. Advanced Energy Materials (2021).
3. Van Der Waals gap-rich BiOCl atomic layers realizing efficient, pure-water CO2-to-CO photocatalysis. Nature Communications (2021).
4. Atomic‐Scale Mott–Schottky Heterojunctions of Boron Nitride Monolayer and Graphene as Metal‐Free Photocatalysts for Artificial Photosynthesis. Advanced Science (2018).
5. Dual defect regulation of BiOCl halogen layer enables photocatalytic O2 activation into singlet oxygen for refractory aromatic pollutant removal. Applied Catalysis B Environment and Energy (2024).