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Sa YJ, Lee CW, Lee SY, Na J, Lee U, Hwang YJ. Catalyst-electrolyte interface chemistry for electrochemical CO 2 reduction. Chem Soc Rev 2020; 49:6632-6665. [PMID: 32780048 DOI: 10.1039/d0cs00030b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 121] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The electrochemical reduction of CO2 stores intermittent renewable energy in valuable raw materials, such as chemicals and transportation fuels, while minimizing carbon emissions and promoting carbon-neutral cycles. Recent technoeconomic reports suggested economically feasible target products of CO2 electroreduction and the relative influence of key performance parameters such as faradaic efficiency (FE), current density, and overpotential in the practical industrial-scale applications. Furthermore, fundamental factors, such as available reaction pathways, shared intermediates, competing hydrogen evolution reaction, scaling relations of the intermediate binding energies, and CO2 mass transport limitations, should be considered in relation to the electrochemical CO2 reduction performance. Intensive research efforts have been devoted to designing and developing advanced electrocatalysts and improving mechanistic understanding. More recently, the research focus was extended to the catalyst environment, because the interfacial region can delicately modulate the catalytic activity and provide effective solutions to challenges that were not fully addressed in the material development studies. Herein, we discuss the importance of catalyst-electrolyte interfaces in improving key operational parameters based on kinetic equations. Furthermore, we extensively review previous studies on controlling organic modulators, electrolyte ions, electrode structures, as well as the three-phase boundary at the catalyst-electrolyte interface. The interfacial region modulates the electrocatalytic properties via electronic modification, intermediate stabilization, proton delivery regulation, catalyst structure modification, reactant concentration control, and mass transport regulation. We discuss the current understanding of the catalyst-electrolyte interface and its effect on the CO2 electroreduction activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Young Jin Sa
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea. and Department of Chemistry, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, Republic of Korea
| | - Chan Woo Lee
- Department of Chemistry, Kookmin University, Seoul 02707, Republic of Korea
| | - Si Young Lee
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea. and Division of Energy and Environmental Technology, KIST School, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
| | - Jonggeol Na
- Division of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Republic of Korea
| | - Ung Lee
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea. and Division of Energy and Environmental Technology, KIST School, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea and Green School, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
| | - Yun Jeong Hwang
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea. and Division of Energy and Environmental Technology, KIST School, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Yonsei-KIST Convergence Research Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
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