The adverse environmental impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and persistent waste accumulation are driving the demand for sustainable approaches to clean-energy production and waste recycling. By coupling the thermodynamically favourable oxidation of waste-derived organic carbon streams with fuel-forming reduction reactions suitable for producing clean hydrogen or converting CO₂ to fuels, solar reforming simultaneously valorizes waste and generates useful chemical products. With appropriate light harvesting, catalyst design, device configurations and waste pre-treatment strategies, a range of sustainable fuels and value-added chemicals can already be selectively produced from diverse waste feedstocks, including biomass and plastics, demonstrating the potential of solar-powered upcycling plants. This Review highlights solar reforming as an emerging technology that is currently transitioning from fundamental research towards practical application. We investigate the chemistry and compatibility of waste pre-treatment, introduce process classifications, explore the mechanisms of different solar reforming technologies, and suggest appropriate concepts, metrics and pathways for various deployment scenarios in a net-zero-carbon future.

温室气体排放和持续废物积累对环境造成的不利影响正在推动对清洁能源生产和废物回收的可持续方法的需求。通过将废物衍生的有机碳流的热力学有利氧化与适合生产清洁氢气或将CO ₂转化为燃料的燃料形成还原反应相结合，太阳能重整可以同时使废物增值并产生有用的化学产品。通过适当的光收集、催化剂设计、设备配置和废物预处理策略，已经可以从包括生物质和塑料在内的不同废物原料中选择性地生产一系列可持续燃料和增值化学品，展示了太阳能升级回收的潜力植物。本综述强调太阳能重整作为一项新兴技术，目前正从基础研究转向实际应用。我们研究废物预处理的化学性质和兼容性，介绍工艺分类，探索不同太阳能重整技术的机制，并为净零碳未来的各种部署方案提出适当的概念、指标和途径。