Controlled Substrate Transport to Electrocatalyst Active Sites for Enhanced Selectivity in the Carbon Dioxide Reduction Reaction

Abstract

The selective electrochemical reduction of CO2 to value-added products is a useful strategy for the local storage of intermittent energy sources as chemical fuels and the recycling of industrial CO2 waste into industrial feedstocks. This review highlights some of the recent research focused specifically on modulating substrate delivery and local catalyst environment to enhance reaction and product selectivity in the CO2 reduction reaction by both solid-state materials and discrete molecular systems. We discuss recent studies that focus on (1) using nanostructured and mesoporous solid-state electrocatalysts to modulate local pH and CO2 concentrations near active sites, (2) coating electrocatalysts with porous overlayers to directly control substrate delivery to the electrocatalyst surface, and (3) using polymer encapsulation to modify the coordination environment surrounding molecular electrocatalysts to enhance activity and selectivity for CO2 reduction. We believe that increased research in controlling substrate delivery to enhance reaction and product selectivity for the CO2 reduction reaction is a promising strategy for designing new electrocatalytic systems for the selective and efficient conversion of CO2 to value-added products. Graphical abstract