As a conceivable route to achieving anthropological carbon looping, carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies employ waste CO2 as an accessible C1 building block to generate upgraded chemicals or fuels, thereby simultaneously remedying environmental issues and energy crises. However, efficient CO2 conversion is disfavored by both its thermodynamics and its kinetics. Heterostructured materials with well-controlled interfaces have great potential for enhanced catalytic performance in various CO2 transformation reactions, owing to the synergistic effects among components, numerous interfacial and/or surface active sites, increased CO2 adsorption capacity, promoted charge transfer efficiency, and unique physicochemical properties. This Review highlights the state of the art in typical heterostructures, such as core-shell, yolk-shell, Janus, hierarchical (branched and hollow), and 2D/2D layered structures, applied for CO2 conversion with various energy inputs (radiation, electricity, heat). Fabrication methods of different heterostructures and structure-composition-performance relationships are also discussed concisely. Finally, a brief summary and prospective research directions are provided. The motivation of this Review is to offer instructive information on the applicability of inorganic heterostructures for CO2 transformation reactions, and it is hoped that further enlightening studies in this field could emerge in the future.
Keywords: carbon dioxide; heterogeneous catalysis; interface engineering; nanostructures; synergistic effects.
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