Global industrialization and overreliance on fossil fuels for energy has triggered higher atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and resulted in global warming. This fact necessitates the elimination of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Inspired by natural photosynthesis and driven by the advancement in nanotechnology, the application of 2D-semiconductors in the photocatalytic conversion of CO₂ into beneficial products such as C₁ and C₂ compounds has gained significant momentum in research worldwide. Having understood the importance of this research area, this review discusses the fundamentals and in-depth mechanism of photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ in synergy with various reaction pathways. Besides, it recapitulates the emerging and recently developed highly efficient, selective, and active photocatalysts for CO₂ conversion. Also, the study incorporates the critical performance assessment of the various photocatalysts in the different reaction mediums and details various modification strategies with dopants, functional groups, co-catalyst, surface defects, and heterojunction band bending along with their roles in the enhancement of photocatalytic reduction of CO₂. This review article is the first of its kind in covering the aspects of chemistry in the material - environment - energy nexus. Hence, it will be useful for the researchers and applicants working in the field of environmental engineering, materials science, energy, chemistry, and chemical engineering.

全球工业化和能源对化石燃料的过度依赖引发了更高的大气 CO ₂浓度并导致全球变暖。这一事实需要消除大气中的CO ₂。受自然光合作用的启发和纳米技术进步的推动，二维半导体在将 CO ₂光催化转化为有益产物（如 C ₁和 C ₂化合物）中的应用在全球研究中获得了显着的动力。了解该研究领域的重要性后，本综述讨论了光催化还原 CO ₂的基本原理和深入机制与各种反应途径协同作用。此外，它概括了新兴和最近开发的用于 CO ₂转化的高效、选择性和活性光催化剂。此外，该研究结合了不同反应介质中各种光催化剂的关键性能评估，并详细介绍了掺杂剂、官能团、助催化剂、表面缺陷和异质结带弯曲的各种改性策略及其在增强光催化还原中的作用CO ₂. 这篇评论文章是第一篇涵盖材料-环境-能源关系中化学方面的文章。因此，它将对在环境工程、材料科学、能源、化学和化学工程领域工作的研究人员和申请人有用。