Advanced cathode catalysts with well-defined active sites toward CO2 reduction/evolution reactions of Li-CO2 battery

Abstract

To achieve the carbon neutrality around the world, the effective utilization of carbon dioxide (CO₂) is an indispensable strategy. Lithium-CO₂ batteries show great potential in both CO₂ capture and energy storage, becoming a promising pathway to reduce CO₂ emission. However, hindered by the sluggish kinetics of CO₂ reduction and evolution reactions during discharging-charging processes, Li-CO₂ batteries show high overpotential, poor reversibility, and undesirable cyclability, which is far from the practical requirement. The investigation towards rational design of cathode catalysts containing the element species selection, precise structure design, electronic properties regulation, etc. has been proposed to analyze the reaction mechanism of CO₂ reduction/evolution reactions. In this review, recent advancements on cathode catalysts of Li-CO₂ batteries that have investigated the structure-performance relationship based on well-defined active catalytic sites have been summarized and discussed to achieve a better understanding on mechanism and effective construction of advanced Li-CO₂ batteries for further study.