Abstract The energy crisis has driven extensive research into photocatalytic materials for solar-driven energy conversion. Photocatalysis enables chemical transformations via photogenerated charge carriers, representing a viable strategy for utilizing solar energy. Conventional photocatalysts, however, face inherent limitations, including restricted photoresponse ranges and limited charge separation kinetics from rapid electron-hole recombination. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), characterized by precisely structured porous architectures and exceptional physicochemical stability, present transformative solutions. This review systematically evaluates structural design principles and performance enhancement strategies for COF-based photocatalysts. Key methodological advancements include (1) functional group engineering for electronic property tailoring, (2) semiconductor integration for enhanced light absorption and charge separation, (3) heterojunction interface optimization for interfacial charge transfer, and (4) defect engineering for electronic state modulation. These multi-scale strategies—operating across molecular, interfacial, and defect levels—demonstrate significant improvements in light-harvesting efficiency, charge migration rates, and catalytic activity, establishing COFs as a frontier platform for next-generation photocatalysis.
Yonggang Wu (2025) studied this question.