Current prospects of carbon-based nanodots in photocatalytic CO2 conversion

Over the past several years, semiconductor photocatalysis has gained renewed interest because of its potential in solar-to-fuel energy conversion, which is considered one of the grand challenges of our time. In light of some of the common limitations associated with traditional titania-based photocatalysts and semiconductor quantum dots, recent years have seen emergence of carbon-based nanodots, and associated nanohybrids in photocatalytic energy conversion applications owing to their excellent optoelectronic properties suitable for light-harvesting applications and photoinduced redox properties. Carbon-based quantum dots and low-dimensional graphene-based nanostructures in CO2 photoconversion are mainly reviewed in this book chapter. This chapter summarizes optical and photophysical properties of carbon dots followed by their photocatalytic applications in CO2 conversion and value-added chemical and future perspectives of carbon dots in CO2 photoreduction reactions.