Recent Progress in CO2 Conversion: An Overview of Catalytic Strategies for Sustainable Fuel and Chemical Synthesis

69 authors, including; An Zhang; Yanming Cai; Liang Guo; Chao Wang; Qingbo Wa; Yanping Xu; Jian Zhou; Hongshuang Fan; Ziyun Li; Xinyue Long; Jiabei Tang; Zijian Li; Li Zhai; Zhenyu Shi; Wei Zhai; Yuhui Tian; Shuai Bi; Zhanxi Fan; Bolong Huang; Jiawei Liu; Zhicheng Zhang; Hua Zhang

doi:10.1002/smm2.70058

Recent Progress in CO₂ Conversion: An Overview of Catalytic Strategies for Sustainable Fuel and Chemical Synthesis

69 authors, including, An Zhang, Yanming Cai, Liang Guo, Chao Wang, Qingbo Wa, Yanping Xu, Jian Zhou, Hongshuang Fan, Ziyun Li, Xinyue Long, Jiabei Tang, Zijian Li, Li Zhai, Zhenyu Shi, Wei Zhai, Yuhui Tian, Shuai Bi, Zhanxi Fan, Bolong HuangJiawei Liu^*, Zhicheng Zhang^*, Hua Zhang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

5 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

The conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into value-added chemicals and renewable fuels is a promising approach to mitigate climate change and promote the development of sustainable energy systems. However, despite the broad range of products, including CO, formic acid and multi-carbon hydrocarbons, the large-scale implementation of CO₂ conversion technologies is still hindered by low catalytic efficiency and high energy consumption. This review introduces recent advances in catalytic materials design, emphasizing the structure–property relationships that govern the performance of highly efficient catalysts across various CO₂ conversion processes, including photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, CO₂ hydrogenation, photothermal conversion, non-thermal plasma techniques, and biological methodologies. By examining the synergies among catalyst architectures, key intermediates, catalytic mechanisms and reactor designs, this review explores the potential for tailored CO₂ conversion processes with optimized reaction pathways to achieve specific catalytic products, and also provides a roadmap for the development of efficient, scalable CO₂ conversion technologies to facilitate the transition to a circular carbon economy. © 2025 The Author(s). SmartMat published by Tianjin University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Original language	English
Article number	e70058
Number of pages	121
Journal	SMARTMAT
Volume	6
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/smm2.70058
Publication status	Published - Dec 2025

Funding

H.Z. thanks the Project 52131301 supported by NSFC, and the support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (TRS (T23-713/22-R)-Carbon Neutrality), the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (GRF Project No. 11315722, 11307724), ITF project (Ref. GHP/102/22SZ), ITC via the Hong Kong Branch of National Precious Metals Material Engineering Research Center (NPMM) and grants (Project Nos. 7020103, 9610663, 9380100 and 1886921) from the City University of Hong Kong. Z.C.Z. thanks the support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (U24B20190, 22375142), and Innovation Funding Project of Science and Technology, China National Petroleum Corporation (2022DQ02-0408). This research is supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister's Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme (Development of advanced catalysts for electrochemical carbon abatement, Project Code: 370184872). J.L. thanks the support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project 22502165) and Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (GRF Project No. 16305925). L.L.Z. thanks the financial support from Coal-Major Project (2025ZD1701600).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 4 Quality Education
SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
SDG 13 Climate Action

Research Keywords

biocatalysis
CO2 conversion
CO2 hydrogenation
non-thermal plasma
photo/electrocatalysis

Publisher's Copyright Statement

This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

RGC Funding Information

RGC-funded

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10.1002/smm2.70058

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69 authors, including, Zhang, A., Cai, Y., Guo, L., Wang, C., Wa, Q., Xu, Y., Zhou, J., Fan, H., Li, Z., Long, X., Tang, J., Li, Z., Zhai, L., Shi, Z., Zhai, W., Tian, Y., Bi, S., Fan, Z., ... Zhang, H. (2025). Recent Progress in CO₂ Conversion: An Overview of Catalytic Strategies for Sustainable Fuel and Chemical Synthesis. SMARTMAT, 6(6), Article e70058. https://doi.org/10.1002/smm2.70058

@article{d902321e12264e439754f9ebdfc4a527,

title = "Recent Progress in CO2 Conversion: An Overview of Catalytic Strategies for Sustainable Fuel and Chemical Synthesis",

abstract = "The conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into value-added chemicals and renewable fuels is a promising approach to mitigate climate change and promote the development of sustainable energy systems. However, despite the broad range of products, including CO, formic acid and multi-carbon hydrocarbons, the large-scale implementation of CO2 conversion technologies is still hindered by low catalytic efficiency and high energy consumption. This review introduces recent advances in catalytic materials design, emphasizing the structure–property relationships that govern the performance of highly efficient catalysts across various CO2 conversion processes, including photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, CO2 hydrogenation, photothermal conversion, non-thermal plasma techniques, and biological methodologies. By examining the synergies among catalyst architectures, key intermediates, catalytic mechanisms and reactor designs, this review explores the potential for tailored CO2 conversion processes with optimized reaction pathways to achieve specific catalytic products, and also provides a roadmap for the development of efficient, scalable CO2 conversion technologies to facilitate the transition to a circular carbon economy. {\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s). SmartMat published by Tianjin University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.",

keywords = "biocatalysis, CO2 conversion, CO2 hydrogenation, non-thermal plasma, photo/electrocatalysis",

author = "{69 authors, including} and An Zhang and Yanming Cai and Liang Guo and Chao Wang and Qingbo Wa and Yanping Xu and Jian Zhou and Hongshuang Fan and Ziyun Li and Xinyue Long and Jiabei Tang and Zijian Li and Li Zhai and Zhenyu Shi and Wei Zhai and Yuhui Tian and Shuai Bi and Hao Wei and Mingliang Hu and Yang Xu and Yiran Zhang and Yu Zhang and Ruiying Ding and Junjun Li and Shuangqun Chen and Jianfeng Huang and Zhanxi Fan and Xingchen Jiao and Guigao Liu and Haiqing Wang and Haifeng Tian and Jingyu Pang and Kuncheng Zhang and Weisong Liu and Huijuan Cui and Lingling Zhang and Xiaofu Sun and Jianling Zhang and Dan Ren and Sheng Zhang and Lu Qiao and Zhe Weng and Hongmei Li and Min Liu and Miao Zhong and Lei Wang and Jun Gu and {Bin Wu}, Hao and Bolong Huang and Jiawei Liu and Zhicheng Zhang and Hua Zhang",

year = "2025",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1002/smm2.70058",

language = "English",

volume = "6",

journal = "SMARTMAT",

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69 authors, including, Zhang, A, Cai, Y, Guo, L , Wang, C , Wa, Q , Xu, Y , Zhou, J , Fan, H , Li, Z , Long, X , Tang, J , Li, Z , Zhai, L , Shi, Z , Zhai, W, Tian, Y, Bi, S, Fan, Z , Huang, B, Liu, J, Zhang, Z & Zhang, H 2025, 'Recent Progress in CO₂ Conversion: An Overview of Catalytic Strategies for Sustainable Fuel and Chemical Synthesis', SMARTMAT, vol. 6, no. 6, e70058. https://doi.org/10.1002/smm2.70058

TY - JOUR

T1 - Recent Progress in CO2 Conversion

T2 - An Overview of Catalytic Strategies for Sustainable Fuel and Chemical Synthesis

AU - 69 authors, including

AU - Zhang, An

AU - Cai, Yanming

AU - Guo, Liang

AU - Wang, Chao

AU - Wa, Qingbo

AU - Xu, Yanping

AU - Zhou, Jian

AU - Fan, Hongshuang

AU - Li, Ziyun

AU - Long, Xinyue

AU - Tang, Jiabei

AU - Li, Zijian

AU - Zhai, Li

AU - Shi, Zhenyu

AU - Zhai, Wei

AU - Tian, Yuhui

AU - Bi, Shuai

AU - Wei, Hao

AU - Hu, Mingliang

AU - Xu, Yang

AU - Zhang, Yiran

AU - Zhang, Yu

AU - Ding, Ruiying

AU - Li, Junjun

AU - Chen, Shuangqun

AU - Huang, Jianfeng

AU - Fan, Zhanxi

AU - Jiao, Xingchen

AU - Liu, Guigao

AU - Wang, Haiqing

AU - Tian, Haifeng

AU - Pang, Jingyu

AU - Zhang, Kuncheng

AU - Liu, Weisong

AU - Cui, Huijuan

AU - Zhang, Lingling

AU - Sun, Xiaofu

AU - Zhang, Jianling

AU - Ren, Dan

AU - Zhang, Sheng

AU - Qiao, Lu

AU - Weng, Zhe

AU - Li, Hongmei

AU - Liu, Min

AU - Zhong, Miao

AU - Wang, Lei

AU - Gu, Jun

AU - Bin Wu, Hao

AU - Huang, Bolong

AU - Liu, Jiawei

AU - Zhang, Zhicheng

AU - Zhang, Hua

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - The conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into value-added chemicals and renewable fuels is a promising approach to mitigate climate change and promote the development of sustainable energy systems. However, despite the broad range of products, including CO, formic acid and multi-carbon hydrocarbons, the large-scale implementation of CO2 conversion technologies is still hindered by low catalytic efficiency and high energy consumption. This review introduces recent advances in catalytic materials design, emphasizing the structure–property relationships that govern the performance of highly efficient catalysts across various CO2 conversion processes, including photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, CO2 hydrogenation, photothermal conversion, non-thermal plasma techniques, and biological methodologies. By examining the synergies among catalyst architectures, key intermediates, catalytic mechanisms and reactor designs, this review explores the potential for tailored CO2 conversion processes with optimized reaction pathways to achieve specific catalytic products, and also provides a roadmap for the development of efficient, scalable CO2 conversion technologies to facilitate the transition to a circular carbon economy. © 2025 The Author(s). SmartMat published by Tianjin University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

AB - The conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into value-added chemicals and renewable fuels is a promising approach to mitigate climate change and promote the development of sustainable energy systems. However, despite the broad range of products, including CO, formic acid and multi-carbon hydrocarbons, the large-scale implementation of CO2 conversion technologies is still hindered by low catalytic efficiency and high energy consumption. This review introduces recent advances in catalytic materials design, emphasizing the structure–property relationships that govern the performance of highly efficient catalysts across various CO2 conversion processes, including photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, CO2 hydrogenation, photothermal conversion, non-thermal plasma techniques, and biological methodologies. By examining the synergies among catalyst architectures, key intermediates, catalytic mechanisms and reactor designs, this review explores the potential for tailored CO2 conversion processes with optimized reaction pathways to achieve specific catalytic products, and also provides a roadmap for the development of efficient, scalable CO2 conversion technologies to facilitate the transition to a circular carbon economy. © 2025 The Author(s). SmartMat published by Tianjin University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

KW - biocatalysis

KW - CO2 conversion

KW - CO2 hydrogenation

KW - non-thermal plasma

KW - photo/electrocatalysis

UR - https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:001660063900001

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U2 - 10.1002/smm2.70058

DO - 10.1002/smm2.70058

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

SN - 2766-8525

VL - 6

JO - SMARTMAT

JF - SMARTMAT

IS - 6

M1 - e70058

ER -

Recent Progress in CO₂ Conversion: An Overview of Catalytic Strategies for Sustainable Fuel and Chemical Synthesis

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

RGC Funding Information

Access Output

Other Access Options

Permanent Link

Other Files and Links

Fingerprint

ITF: Preparation of High-Performance Noble Metal-Based Composite Catalysts for Hydrogen Fuel Cells

GRF: Synthesis of Metal Alloy Nanomaterials with Unconventional Crystal Phases for Fuel Cell Electrocatalysis

TBRS-ExtU-Lead: Towards Carbon Neutrality: Catalysing H2O and CO2 to Green Resource Carriers

Cite this

Recent Progress in CO2 Conversion: An Overview of Catalytic Strategies for Sustainable Fuel and Chemical Synthesis

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

RGC Funding Information

Access Output

Other Access Options

Permanent Link

Other Files and Links

Fingerprint

Projects

ITF: Preparation of High-Performance Noble Metal-Based Composite Catalysts for Hydrogen Fuel Cells

GRF: Synthesis of Metal Alloy Nanomaterials with Unconventional Crystal Phases for Fuel Cell Electrocatalysis

TBRS-ExtU-Lead: Towards Carbon Neutrality: Catalysing H2O and CO2 to Green Resource Carriers

Cite this

Recent Progress in CO₂ Conversion: An Overview of Catalytic Strategies for Sustainable Fuel and Chemical Synthesis