Recent advances in the development of various electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction reactions: A review

Industrial growth, transportation, energy demands, and population growth increase the utilization of fossil fuels. Due to the excess usage of these non-renewable energy resources, CO 2 is getting accumulated in the atmosphere, which has become very serious issues in the modern world. Due to the enhanced concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere, we are facing several environmental and health issues. To avoid/reduce the effect, converting CO 2 into other useful products such as formate, alcohols, CO and hydrocarbons has gained severe attention. These products were found useful in several industries as value added products like fuels, plastics, building materials, and other chemicals. Electrochemical conversion of CO 2 into other useful products has provided several advantages over other techniques. However, reduction of thermodynamically stable CO 2 is unfavourable under ordinary conditions. Therefore, developing a suitable electrocatalyst for efficient CO 2 reduction is essential. An ideal catalyst should be effective for the efficient reduction of CO 2 . In this review, we summarize metrics of electrochemical CO 2 reduction catalysts in the half-cell, and electrolyser studies such as onset potential (E onset ), current density, faradaic efficiency (FE), and product selectivity. A variety of electrocatalysts including transition metals, carbonaceous materials, and their composites had been developed whose activity was checked against CO 2 Reduction Reaction (CO 2 RR). This review summarises the preparation of the catalysts, modification of the electrodes using them, and their catalytic activities at the laboratory scale, and the large-scale CO 2 RR, and suggests the possible future perspectives.