The advancement of porous bimetal nanostructures for electrochemical CO2 utilization to valuable products: Experimental and theoretical insights

The growth of coherently engineered porous bimetal (PBM) nanostructures shows great progress in electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO₂) utilization. This is due to their remarkable catalytic and physicochemical merits that present an encouraging approach for CO₂ conversion into valuable products (i.e., fuels and chemicals). Hence, this review presents recent advances in experimental, in-situ analysis and theoretical studies of PBM electrocatalysts, including PBM Cu-based and PBM Cu-free electrocatalysts, toward CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) and comprehend its fundamental mechanisms. Various synthesis strategies were utilized to construct PBM nanostructures with distinct compositions, morphology, and synergism for excellent CO₂RR activity, stability and product selectivity. As corroborated by theoretical calculations that revealed beneficial electronic features and reaction routes with facile adsorption energies for reactant (CO₂) and intermediate species on the various active sites of PBM nanostructures in easing the CO₂RR. Future research efforts should establish robust framework for experimental, in-situ analysis, theoretical simulations and automated machine learning in developing next-generation electrochemical CO₂ utilization technologies with PBM nanostructures. Finally, this study emphasizes the potential of PBM nanostructures for efficient electrochemical CO₂ utilization and provides a pathway to sustainable and inexpensively viable carbon-neutrality.