Recent Progress in Visible-Light Photocatalysts Materials: Synthesis, Applications, Challenges, and Prospects

Photocatalysis materials have gained significant attention as a powerful tool for environmental remediation and green energy generation, due to their remarkable ability to convert solar energy into chemical energy efficiently. Additionally, photocatalysis also plays a significant role in the medical realm, facilitating advancements in drug synthesis. However, the wavelengths of photocatalysis light normally focus on UV light, which is usually generated by higher energy. In recent years, the spotlight has shifted towards visible-light photocatalysis as a promising green and sustainable alternative due to the increasing concerns about environmental challenges and energy crises. This review focuses on the recent advancements in visible-light photocatalysis materials and emphasizes the diverse types of photocatalytic materials and their impactful applications in environmental remediation, organic synthesis chemistry, and energy conversion. Furthermore, the prevailing challenges and potential solutions in visible-light photocatalysis materials are also summarized to provide valuable insights for the further development and optimization of photocatalysis. Received: 25 April 2024 | Revised: 24 July 2024 | Accepted: 10 January 2025 Conflicts of Interest Jun Zou is an Editorial Board Member for Journal of Optics and Photonics Research and was not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. Data Availability Statement Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Author Contribution Statement Xiaoyang Li: Investigation, Resources, Writing – original draft. Sihan Lin: Investigation. Rongrong Hu: Conceptualization, Investigation, Resources, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Pan Liang: Investigation. Qiaoyun Wu: Investigation, Resources. Bobo Yang: Investigation. Shengquan Lin: Investigation. Quanlong Xu: Investigation. Junnan Mei: Investigation. Jun Zou: Conceptualization, Investigation, Supervision, Funding acquisition.