Review of synergistic photo-thermo-catalysis: Mechanisms, materials and applications

Solar energy is potentially the most promising type of renewable energy for large-scale utilization in the future, thus maximizing the use of solar energy has long been long pursued. Photo-thermo-catalysis (PTC) has presented a novel strategy that could utilize the full-spectrum sunlight to stimulate the synergy between photocatalysis (PC) and thermocatalysis (TC), which not only achieves high utilization efficiency of solar energy but also minimizes the energy consumption compared to sole PC and TC. This review strives to give a comprehensive overview of major advances of PTC. It starts with the fundamental mechanisms of PTC categorized by either heating mode (local and global) or photo-thermal synergic mode (thermal-assisted photocatalysis, photo-assisted thermocatalysis, photo-driven thermocatalysis and photo-thermal co-catalysis). Then, various photo-thermal materials are illustrated, including metals, semiconductors, carbon materials, etc. After that, we focus on the diverse applications of PTC, specifically in the fields of energy (CO₂ reduction and H₂ evolution), environment (VOCs and 4-NP degradations) and organic synthesis (Suzuki coupling and cyclocondensation reactions). Special emphasis is placed on the synergism of photo and thermal effect that leads to enhanced catalytic performances in PTC. Finally, the challenges and perspectives of PTC are discussed. We hope this review could shed some light on the fundamental mechanisms of PTC reactions and serve as a clearer guidance for synergistically high-efficient solar energy utilization systems in the future.