Surface and Interface Engineering for the Catalysts of Electrocatalytic CO₂ Reduction

Abstract

The massive use of fossil fuels releases a great amount of CO2, which substantially contributes to the global warming. For the global goal of putting CO2 emission under control, effective utilization of CO2 is particularly meaningful. Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (eCO2RR) has great potential in CO2 utilization, because it can convert CO2 into valuable carbon‐containing chemicals and feedstock using renewable electricity. The catalyst design for eCO2RR is a key challenge to achieving efficient conversion of CO2 to fuels and useful chemicals. For a typical heterogeneous catalyst, surface and interface engineering is an effective approach to enhance reaction activity. Herein, the development and research progress in CO2 catalysts with focus on surface and interface engineering are reviewed. First, the fundaments of eCO2RR is briefly discussed from the reaction mechanism to performance evaluation methods, introducing the role of the surface and interface engineering of electrocatalyst in eCO2RR. Then, several routes to optimize the surface and interface of CO2 electrocatalysts, including morphology, dopants, atomic vacancies, grain boundaries, surface modification, etc., are reviewed and representative examples are given. At the end of this review, we share our personal views in future research of eCO2RR.

Renewable Hydrogen Production and Storage Via Enzymatic Interconversion of CO2 and Formate with Electrochemical Cofactor Regeneration

“…CO 2 transformations can be performed by chemical methods, photochemical reductions, chemical and electrochemical reductions, biological conversions, reforming and inorganic transformations. [3][4][5][6] Hydrogen is emerging as a green energy carrier, as it produces no undesirable emissions when burned. It has a high gravimetric, but a low volumetric energy density under normal conditions (33.3 kW h kg À 1 and 2.5 W h L À 1 respectively).…”

Piezocatalysis: a promising alternative route for CO2 reduction

“…The CO 2 RR is in competition with the H 2 evolution reaction, because water is present in the reaction medium while simultaneously acting as a source of protons. 10…”

“…Concentration of CO 2 around the catalyst surface is low due to poor solubility of CO 2 in water. At room temperature and atmospheric pressure, only 0.034 mol of CO 2 is soluble in a liter of water, 10 which makes chemisorption of CO 2 difficult 8.…”