Emerging high-prospect applications in photothermal catalysis

This article updates the most appealing progresses from the last years in the fast-expanding, burgeoning research field that is photothermal heterogeneous catalysis. We provide an overview of significant advances realized in less-scrutinized, albeit high-prospect, reactions, namely in the valorization of bio-resources, the methane activation, the ammonia synthesis, and the molecular oxygen activation for selective oxidations. Regardless of whether the light-induced reaction mechanisms are electron- or heat-driven, we show that synergistic (cooperative) effects upon a suited dual-mode thermal/photonic excitation in photothermal catalysis allow for the greening of the catalytic processes, through the acceleration of the reaction rates to get shorter reaction times under fixed conditions, the orientation of reaction selectivities, the enhancement of the catalyst stability and/or the softening of the reaction conditions.