Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction Reaction: Comprehensive Strategic Approaches to Catalyst Design for Selective Liquid...

The escalating concern regarding the release of CO₂ into the atmosphere poses a significant threat to the contemporary efforts in mitigating climate change. Amidst a multitude of strategies for curtailing CO₂ emissions, the electrochemical CO₂ reduction presents a promising avenue for transforming CO₂ molecules into a diverse array of valuable gaseous and liquid products, such as CO, CH₃OH, CH₄, HCO₂H, C₂H₄, C₂H₅OH, CH₃CO₂H, 1-C₃H₇OH and others. The mechanistic investigations of gaseous products (e. g. CO, CH₄, C₂H₄, C₂H₆ and others) broadly covered in the literature. There is a noticeable gap in the literature when it comes to a comprehensive summary exclusively dedicated to coherent roadmap for the designing principles for a selective catalyst all possible liquid products (such as CH₃OH, C₂H₅OH, 1-C₃H₇OH, 2-C₃H₇OH, 1-C₄H₉OH, as well as other C₃-C₄ products like methylglyoxal and 2,3-furandiol, in addition to HCO₂H, AcOH, oxalic acid and others), selectively converted by CO₂ reduction. This entails a meticulous analysis to justify these approaches and a thorough exploration of the correlation between materials and their electrocatalytic properties. Furthermore, these insightful discussions illuminate the future prospects for practical applications, a facet not exhaustively examined in prior reviews.