Nanostructured Copper‐Based Electrocatalysts for CO₂ Reduction

Abstract

The continuous increase of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has been imposing an imminent threat for global climate change and environmental hazards. In recent years, the electrochemical or photochemical conversion of CO2 into value‐added chemicals or fuels has received significant attention, as it may enable an attractive means to mitigate the atmospheric CO2 concentration and complete the imbalanced carbon‐neutral energy cycle, as well as create renewable energy resources for human use. Among the different electrocatalysts being studied, Cu‐based materials have been demonstrated as the only category of candidates that allows the conversion of CO2 into a variety of reducing products, including carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and alcohols. Herein, the reaction pathways for different Cu‐based catalysts for C1 and C2+ products are introduced. Then, different parameters in tuning Cu‐based electrocatalysts are summarized and discussed, including the morphologies, compositions, crystal facets, and oxide derivation. In addition, various types of parameters for CO2 electroreduction are also described, particularly the option of electrolytes such as aqueous, ionic liquids, and organic solutions. Finally, the current challenges are discussed and the potential strategies to facilitate the future development of CO2 electroreduction are summarized.

Highly efficient electroconversion of carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons by cathodized copper–organic frameworks

“…11,12 Copper (Cu) based nanomaterials show the potential capability to generate various hydrocarbons. [13][14][15][16] Nevertheless, these inorganic Cu compounds suffer from low efficiency and selectivity for CO 2 conversion towards hydrocarbon production. [17][18][19][20] Recently, porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) constructed from the coordination bonds of organic ligands and metal ions have attracted extensive interest.…”

Synthesis of C<sub>2</sub> products via electrocatalytic CO<sub>2</sub> reduction

“…[26~28] 、纳米催化剂 [22,29,30] 和原子级催化剂 [30,31] . 此外 还有综述专题讨论基于氧化物的催化剂 [16] 、基于二维 材料的催化剂 [14] 、基于碳材料的催化剂 [32] 、适用于水 相电解质体系的催化剂 [22] 等.…”

Pushing the activity of CO2 electroreduction by system engineering

“…Copper is the only type III of catalyst. It has a strong binding to the intermediate state *CO and can be further reduced to form a *COH or *CHO intermediate state [39,40]. The products of copper-based material are abundant and can include hydrocarbons and alcohol molecules with 2-3 carbon atoms [41].…”