Defect Engineering on Carbon-Based Catalysts for Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Abstract

Electrocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction (ECR) has become one of the main methods to close the broken carbon cycle and temporarily store renewable energy, but there are still some problems such as poor stability, low activity, and selectivity. While the most promising strategy to improve ECR activity is to develop electrocatalysts with low cost, high activity, and long-term stability. Recently, defective carbon-based nanomaterials have attracted extensive attention due to the unbalanced electron distribution and electronic structural distortion caused by the defects on the carbon materials. Here, the present review mainly summarizes the latest research progress of the construction of the diverse types of defects (intrinsic carbon defects, heteroatom doping defects, metal atomic sites, and edges detects) for carbon materials in ECR, and unveil the structure–activity relationship and its catalytic mechanism. The current challenges and opportunities faced by high-performance carbon materials in ECR are discussed, as well as possible future solutions. It can be believed that this review can provide some inspiration for the future of development of high-performance ECR catalysts.

Structural design and mechanism analysis of hierarchical porous carbon fibers for advanced energy and environmental applications

“…Recently, owing to the advantage of porous structures, which can offer considerable channels for CO 2 diffusion and electron transport, PCFs as low-cost electrocatalysts for the CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) also have received attention from the academic and industrial communities. 330,362–365 The micropores are mainly used to capture CO 2 molecules, while the meso- and macropores can allow the fast diffusion and adsorption of CO 2 in the micropores, resulting in CO 2 enrichment around the active sites. 366 For example, He and co-workers created a self-supported Ni single-atom decorated hierarchical PCF membrane catalyst from electrospun ZIF-8 for high-efficiency CO 2 RR.…”

“…Many studies have highlighted graphene or graphene oxide as a very promising candidate for sensing applications due to its unique characteristics such as excellent electrical properties, mechanical strength, and flexibility. 365,411–413 Accordingly, hierarchical porous graphene fibers with a high special surface area have been investigated for wearable and fordable sensing applications. For example, Qu's group presented an electrochemical enzyme sensor based on a PCF with assembled 3D graphene by means of a shrink effect-enabled glucose oxidase (GOD) immobilization method (Fig.…”

Defect Engineering for Expediting Li–S Chemistry: Strategies, Mechanisms, and Perspectives

“…Very recently, Xue et al systematically summarized the typical classifications and synthetic strategies of carbon intrinsic defects, shedding light on their formation and electrocatalysis mechanism in detail. [101] Although intrinsic carbon defects have been successfully developed to apply in various electrocatalytic reactions, the exploration in the field of PS modulation is still at a nascent stage. Throughout synthesizing a commonly available nitrogencontaining precursor via a templating strategy and subsequent removing nitrogen atoms, Guan et al reported an intrinsic defect-rich hierarchically porous carbon structure (DHPC).…”

Regulating the Electron Localization of Metallic Bismuth for Boosting CO2 Electroreduction

“…Fortunately, this can potentially be achieved through several strategies including the implantation of alien atoms into metal structures [ 17 – 20 ]. Heteroatom introduction usually redistributes the electron state of metal catalysts [ 21 , 22 ], thereby regulating the adsorption of reaction intermediates, which intrinsically affect the electrocatalytic performance in CO2RR.…”

“…Heteroatom introduction usually redistributes the electron state of metal catalysts [21,22], thereby regulating the adsorption of reaction intermediates, which intrinsically affect the electrocatalytic performance in CO2RR.…”