Advances in mesoporous nanomaterials for photocatalytic degradation of pollutants: fundamentals, material classifications, challenges and future prospects

Abstract

Mesoporous nanomaterials (MNMs) have emerged as a powerful class of materials for photocatalytic applications, with their unique structural advantages such as high surface area and tunable pore architecture playing a pivotal role in enhancing photocatalytic efficiency. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in MNMs, focusing on six distinct material classes, including carbon-based, silica-based, polymer-based, mixed-metal-based, metal oxide-based, and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), demonstrating how their mesoscale porosity optimizes light absorption, charge carrier separation, and reactant mass transfer, thus improving catalytic performance. While metal oxide-based MNMs offer the best balance of activity and stability, emerging COFs provide exceptional design flexibility, allowing for the tailoring of material properties at the molecular level, which enhances reaction efficiency and enables mechanistic insights. A significant challenge is the scalability and long-term stability of these materials, which need to be addressed for successful real-world applications. Key insights suggest that overcoming these barriers requires an interdisciplinary approach, integrating standardized fabrication methods with a deeper understanding of reaction mechanisms at the porous interface. This review ultimately establishes that strategic engineering of mesoporous structures moving beyond a primary focus on composition is the key to unlocking the full potential of photocatalytic technologies for sustainable development.