Progress in Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction Reaction (Eco₂RR) for Multi-Carbon Product Synthesis

School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300354, China

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Abstract

Motivated by the worldwide goal of carbon neutrality, electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (eCO2RR) is an environmentally friendly technology that converts CO₂ to useful chemical products using renewalelectricity, is of significant interest both in academia and industry. Multi-carbon products (C₂+) are expected to have clearer resource-based benefits compared with traditional CCS due to the higher energy content and value. This review outlines the recent advances of eCO₂ RR towards C₂ ⁺ products. The basic reaction mechanism is introduced first in this article, and then describes catalyst research in terms of categories (including a discussion on the dominance of copperbased catalysts), the promise of complementarity with non-copper options, and the design of tandem approaches. Besides the energy conversion efficiency, current problems of this area concerning selectivity and stability are also discussed. In the end, perspectives about industrialization pathways and future research trends are given. These developments improved greatly the performance for C₂ + products as well as the applicability of eCO2RR systems, laying groundwork for use of dilute CO₂. The purpose of this work is to support the shift towards sustainable energy as well as contributing toward achieving global net-zero emissions, developing the green chemical industry.