A Beginner's Guide to Organic Semiconductor Photoelectrodes for the Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

Organic semiconductors (OSCs) have been utilized in many applications like organic light emitting diodes, transistors, solar cells and biosensors. Their conjugated structure allows the transportation of electrons and holes through chain and between chains. Their band gap can be engineered to match certain parts of the absorption spectrum. OSCs also possess functional moieties that allow them to attach to certain surfaces or capture certain molecules like carbon dioxide. All these properties make OSCs ideal candidates to be utilized in catalytic applications. However, to this date OSCs have been seldomly exploited in photoelectrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide. This review aims to give insights to basics of photoelectrochemical CO2 reduction and shows examples of OSCs that are utilized for CO2RR as photoelectrocatalysts.