Ionic liquids: The emerging “cardiotonic” for photocatalytic materials

Abstract

Photocatalysis has been regarded as “21st century dream technology” and inspired increasing scientific interest due to their environmental and economic applicability. Due to the bottlenecks of photocatalytic materials (PMs) faced, such as low carrier separation efficiency, insufficient active sites, and incompatibility between surface interface properties and targeted reaction, restricting its advance from laboratory to application. The emergence of ionic liquids (ILs) provides a favorable term for the development of PMs due to their tailorability and diversity. This review starts with the properties of ILs (hydrogen bonds effect, electrostatic effect, polarity effect, and coordination effect), followed by analyzing the potential of ILs in PMs modification. Specifically, this review systematically summarized the regulatory mechanisms and unique advantages of ILs on the particle size, morphology, electron transport and interface properties of PMs. Finally, a summary and outlook on the major challenges, opportunities for future research in high-powered PMs by the strategy of ILs modification was proposed.