Perovskite quantum dot@MOF heterostructures: highly efficient and stable visible-light photocatalysts

Abstract

Metal-halide perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) exhibit outstanding optoelectronic properties but suffer from poor chemical stability and rapid charge recombination, severely restricting their photocatalytic applications. Encapsulating PQDs within porous metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) via ship-in-a-bottle, bottle-around-ship, or one-pot synthetic routes effectively overcomes these limitations through spatial confinement, surface passivation, and strong interfacial coupling. The resulting PQD@MOF heterostructures demonstrate remarkable moisture, thermal, and photostability, with charge-separation lifetimes extended to hundreds of nanoseconds or even microseconds. Favorable type-II or Z-scheme band alignments and strong quantum confinement provide thermodynamic driving forces of 0.7–1.4 eV, enabling sacrificial-agent-free and noble-metal-free photocatalysis. Benchmark systems achieve record electron consumption rates exceeding 660 µmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ with ∼100% formate selectivity in CO₂ photoreduction, H₂ evolution rates up to 154 µmol h⁻¹ without cocatalysts, and >99% selectivity in aerobic C–H oxidation reactions. This review elucidates synthesis–structure–activity relationships, clarifies confinement-induced charge-transfer mechanisms, critically compares nine representative systems, and outlines a roadmap toward scalable, lead-free PQD@MOF photocatalysts for practical solar fuel production and fine-chemical synthesis.