Insight Into Heterogeneous Electrocatalyst Design Understanding for the Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

The carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO₂RR) is a promising route to convert CO₂ into value-added chemicals and fuels by utilizing renewable electrical energy, mitigating the greenhouse effect and depletion of fossil fuels for sustainability. Electrocatalyst plays a critical role in CO₂RR whereas their rational design for achieving high activity, durability, and selectivity toward specific products confronts great challenge. In this review, rational CO₂RR electrocatalyst design as well as essential understanding of nanomaterials in atomic-, nanoscale-, and microscale-level are highlighted. Besides, basic concepts and setup factors related to CO₂RR are systematically outlined to provide a clear and comprehensive understanding as guidance. More importantly, the authors discuss and try to uncover the electrocatalyst structure–function relationship with the assistance of electrokinetic studies, in situ characterizations, and computational techniques. Finally, current challenges and prospects are offered to shed light on future design of advanced CO₂RR electrocatalysts.