Artificial photosynthesis harnesses clean and sustainable solar power to catalyze the conversion of CO2 and H2O molecules into valuable chemicals and O2. This sustainable approach combines energy conversion with environmental pollution control. Non-oxide photocatalysts with broad visible-light absorption and suitable band structures, hold immense potential for CO2 conversion. Nevertheless, they still face numerous challenges in practical applications, particularly in CO2 conversion with H2O. Surface modification and functionalization play the significant role in improving the activity of non-oxide photocatalysts. Multifarious strategies, such as cocatalyst loading, surface regulation, doping engineering, and heterostructure construction, have been explored to optimize light harvesting, bandgap driving force, electron–hole pairs separation/transfer, CO2 adsorption, activation, and catalysis processes. This review summarizes recent progress in surface modification strategies for non-oxide photocatalysts and discusses their enhancement mechanisms for efficient CO2 conversion. These insights are expected to guide the design of high-performance non-oxide photocatalyst systems.

Recent advances on surface modification of non-oxide photocatalysts towards efficient CO2 conversion
    Abstract
        Graphical Abstract
    1 Introduction
    2 Fundamentals of photocatalytic CO2 conversion
    3 Non-oxide photocatalysts for CO2 conversion
        3.1 (Oxy) nitride photocatalysts
        3.2 (Oxy) sulfide photocatalysts
        3.3 (Oxy) halide photocatalysts
    4 Surface modification for photocatalytic CO2 conversion
        4.1 Cocatalyst loading
            4.1.1 Single-component cocatalyst
            4.1.2 Multi-component cocatalyst
            4.1.3 Complex cocatalyst
        4.2 Surface regulation
            4.2.1 Surface morphology control
            4.2.2 Surface defect engineering
            4.2.3 Surface functionalization
            4.2.4 Surface hydrophobic treatment
        4.3 Doping engineering
        4.4 Heterostructure construction
    5 Summary and outlook
    Acknowledgements 
    References

• Hanghang Zhou(Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Pollution Control, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China, College of Resource and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China)
• Wenqiang Ye(Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Pollution Control, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China, College of Resource and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China)
• Jizhou Jiang(School of Environmental Ecology and Biological Engineering, School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Engineering Process of Ministry of Education, Engineering Research Center of Phosphorus Resources Development and Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China, Key Laboratory of Rare Mineral, Ministry of Natural Resources, Geological Experimental Testing Center of Hubei Province, Wuhan 430034, China)
• Zheng Wang(Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Pollution Control, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China, College of Resource and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China) Corresponding author