From 0D to 3D: Carbon-based materials and their electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction performance

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction (CO2RR) is crucial for converting CO2 into valuable chemicals.
• Carbon-based materials offer tunable properties for CO2RR catalysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advances in carbon materials for CO2RR.
• To highlight structure-performance relationships in carbon architectures.
• To discuss strategies for enhancing catalytic activity and selectivity.

Main Methods:

• Focus on zero-to-three-dimensional carbon architectures.
• Analysis of heteroatom doping and defect engineering.
• Investigation of reaction pathways for C1 and C2+ products.

Main Results:

• Heteroatom doping and defects modulate electronic environments and intermediate binding.
• Understanding of C-C coupling mechanisms for C2+ products is advancing.
• Structure-performance relationships in diverse carbon architectures are elucidated.

Conclusions:

• Precise multidimensional carbon design is key for efficient CO2RR.
• Overcoming challenges in active-site density and C2+ selectivity is critical.
• Reactor-level optimization is needed for practical CO2 electroreduction applications.