Designing Nanostructured Metal-Based CO2 Reduction Electrocatalysts

Capture and conversion of CO₂ into value-added chemicals and fuels is one of the most sought-after hot points at the scientific frontier. Driven by renewable energy derived electricity, the heterogeneous electrocatalyic CO₂ reduction has attracted intensive interests because of the easy manipulation and high-energy-density fuels supply. Metals with general abundance and robust ability for activating CO₂ have been adopted as the core-atom for developing advanced CO₂ reduction electrocatalysts. As the dramatic development of nano-technology, the nanostructured metal-based materials become promising candidates for various catalytic systems. In this Review article, a general introduction and principles applied in CO₂ electroreduction are summarized and discussed. Then the proposed reaction pathways of the CO₂ reduction were classified and elaborated depending on the products. The state of the art advances related to the nanostructured metallic electrocatalysts are addressed as well. At last, the remaining challenges and further prospects for the construction of new nanostructured electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction and improvement of existing ones have been presented.