Review on CeO₂-Based Photocatalysts for Photocatalytic Reduction of CO₂: Progresses and Perspectives

A promising approach is to transform carbon dioxide (CO2) into renewable, high value-added products with minimal environmental impact and maximum efficiency. Many problems, including energy shortages and environmental degradation, are caused by high CO2 levels, but this can help. Photocatalytic reduction methods are a promising technology for solving these problems. Cerium dioxide (CeO2) is one of the most important rare earth oxides, and cerium dioxide-based photocatalysts have gained a lot of attention in recent years due to their distinctive features, such as their tunable electronic structures and their excellent photocatalytic performances. However, the wide energy band of cerium oxide limits its utilization of light. This review provides various strategies for the modification of cerium oxide, encompassing external atom doping, heterostructure fabrication, defect fabrication, and crystal plane modulation, to improve the catalytic performance of CeO2. The fundamentals of the conversion of CeO2-based photocatalysts into high value-added products are also summarized. Finally, the challenges and prospects of CeO2-based catalysts for photocatalytic reduction of CO2 are presented.