Issue 37, 2024

Accelerating acidic CO2 electroreduction: strategies beyond catalysts

Abstract

Carbon dioxide electrochemical reduction (CO2RR) into high-value-added chemicals offers an alternative pathway toward achieving carbon neutrality. However, in conventional neutral or alkaline electrolyte systems, a significant portion of CO2 is converted into (bi)carbonate due to the thermodynamically favorable acid–base neutralization reaction between CO2 and hydroxide ions. This results in the single-pass carbon efficiency (SPCE) being theoretically capped at 50%, presenting challenges for practical applications. Acidic CO2RR can completely circumvent the carbonate issue and theoretically achieve 100% SPCE, garnering substantial attention from researchers in recent years. Nevertheless, acidic CO2RR currently lags behind traditional neutral/alkaline systems in terms of product selectivity, stability, and energy efficiency, primarily because the abundance of H+ ions exacerbates the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Encouragingly, significant breakthroughs have been made to address these challenges, with numerous studies indicating that the regulation of the local catalytic environment may be more crucial than the catalyst itself. In this review, we will discuss the main challenges and latest strategies for acidic CO2RR, focusing on three key aspects beyond the catalyst: electrolyte regulation, local catalytic environment modification, and novel designs of gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs)/electrolyzers. We will also conclude the current advancement for acidic CO2RR and provide an outlook, with the hope that this technology will contribute to achieving carbon neutrality and advance towards practical application.

Graphical abstract: Accelerating acidic CO2 electroreduction: strategies beyond catalysts

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
28 6 2024
Accepted
03 9 2024
First published
03 9 2024
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2024,15, 15087-15108

Accelerating acidic CO2 electroreduction: strategies beyond catalysts

B. Deng, D. Sun, X. Zhao, L. Wang, F. Ma, Y. Li and F. Dong, Chem. Sci., 2024, 15, 15087 DOI: 10.1039/D4SC04283B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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