“…[160] Additionally, as DFT calculations support the elucidation of the reaction mechanism, in situ and operando characterization methods certainly help investigate the CO 2 reduction mechanism as ex situ analysis is inadequate to demonstrate what intermediates generate during reaction on the surface due to possible contamination of the surface and unintended transformation of materials. In some works covered in this review, what kinds of bonds were present in the intermediates was revealed by in situ infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR, ATR-IR, DRIFTS) and in situ Raman spectroscopy, [83,84,87,[106][107][108]110,112,124,129] and a chemical state of catalyst was monitored with in situ and operando XAS and operando APXPS. [102,108,125] Based on the results from these characterizations, more reliable reaction mechanisms were proposed.…”