Engineering electronic structures of nanomaterials toward carbon dioxide electroreduction

Abstract

Abstract The electroreduction of CO2 into valuable products holds the prospect for the shortage of fossil fuels and global warming. For the design of catalysts, manipulating the electronic structures of catalysts plays a vital role in the adsorption, activation, and desorption behaviors during the catalytic process. Here, we summarize recent progress in CO2 electroreduction from the perspective of engineering electronic structures of catalysts. The strategies include vacancy engineering, heteroatom substitution, atomic layer regulation, sharp-tip effect, and interlayer bond length regulation. Particularly, combining with the experimental and theoretical results reported previously, we provide an atomic-level insight into the effect of electronic structure on CO2 activation.