Conversion of CO2 to value-added products mediated by ionic liquids

Abstract

Conversion of CO₂ to value-added products is favorable for both greenhouse gas mitigation and carbon-resource utilization. It is still a huge challenge to efficiently, selectively, and economically convert CO₂ to highly valuable products. Many reviews focusing on the catalysts and the products of CO₂ transformation have been published. However, no comprehensive review of ionic liquid (IL)-mediated CO₂ valorization has been published. Here, we provide a review of the IL-mediated conversion of CO₂. During the conversion of CO₂, ILs can act as solvents, electrolytes, CO₂ absorbents, CO₂ activating agents, catalysts or co-catalysts. The effects of cations, anions, alkyl chain length, and functional group of ILs, as well as temperature, pressure, other solvents, or co-catalysts on the catalytic efficiency and selectivity are discussed. We provide a comprehensive discussion of the recent experimental and theoretical progress of thermal, electrochemical and photochemical conversion of CO₂ mediated by ILs and clarify the role of ILs in the process of CO₂ conversion.