The photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to value-added chemicals represents a pivotal strategy for sustainable energy and carbon neutrality. Crystal facet engineering serves as a powerful method to enhance this process by tailoring the surface active sites of semiconductor catalysts. This work systematically demonstrates the efficacy of this approach by comparing two anatase TiO2 morphologies: nanoribbons dominated by (010) facets and nanobipyramids exposing (101) facets. The (010)-faceted nanoribbons are shown to possess a more advantageous band structure for CO2 reduction, superior charge separation, and transport kinetics. These collectively contribute to their markedly enhanced CO yield from 0.25 to 5.45 mmol·g–1·h–1. These findings establish clear structure–property relationships and provide a foundational design principle for developing advanced photocatalysts through precise surface structuring.
Liang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.