Chem. J. Chinese Universities ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (5): 20220035.doi: 10.7503/cjcu20220035

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Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction over Single-atom Catalysts

JIN Xiangyuan, ZHANG Libing, SUN Xiaofu(), HAN Buxing()   

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid,Interface and Chemical Thermodynamics,Institute of Chemistry,Chinese Academy of Science,Beijing 100190,China
  • Received:2022-01-15 Online:2022-05-10 Published:2022-03-11
  • Contact: SUN Xiaofu,HAN Buxing E-mail:sunxiaofu@iccas.ac.cn;hanbx@iccas.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    the National Natural Science Foundation of China(22002172)

Abstract:

Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction(e-CO2RR) is a promising and facile method to achieve carbon-neutral economy and sustainable development due its simple device and capability to consume renewable energy to produce high value-added chemicals. However, e-CO2RR suffers from low selectivity and low current density because of its sluggish kinetics and the weak activity of the catalysts. Hence, single-atom catalysts are one of the most ideal materials for e-CO2RR by virtue of its maximum atom utilization and well-defined catalytic active sites. Single atoms derived from transition metal and main group metal are comprehensively reviewed. Heteroatom coordination, dual-atom site, metal-support interactions, spatial confinement and molecular bridging to tailor the microenvironment of single atom to realize a better catalytic performance are also included. Single-atom catalysts extremely accelerate electrocatalytic CO2 reduction kinetics, which is ascribed to its unique electronic structure and enormous intrinsic highly active sites, indicating its state-of-the-art merits and broad application prospects. Reductive products that involve multi-electrons are desired for single-atom catalysts. Finally, research trends and hotspots in this field are also discussed.

Key words: Electrocatalyst, Single-atom, Green chemistry

CLC Number: 

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