Recent development in the electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide: Short review

Abstract

Carbon dioxide (CO2) release from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas are contributing to the increase in the greenhouse gas (GHG) levels in the atmosphere. Most countries and scientific research communities are endeavoring to solve the climate change issue due to global warming by reducing GHG emissions. At present, most of the researches are focusing on decreasing the dependency on fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy. Nevertheless, this transition still faced major obstacles such as require new infrastructure, technology and market failures. To solve this problem, three CO2 emission reduction strategies can be used, namely CO2 capture and storage (CCS), CO2 utilisation and CO2 conversion. Among these potential approaches, the utilisation and conversion of CO2 are preferable since it converts harmful gas into valuable products. Moreover, conversion of CO2 is a key element for sustainable development towards the low-carbon economy. Furthermore, the application of carbon dioxide conversion technologies involves CO2 capture and reprocess would able to stabilise the atmospheric GHG levels and make a good prospect to transform CO2 into value-added products. A recent advance in electrochemical CO2 conversion has opened an existing possibility of utilisation of CO2 as useful for fuel generation and produce a valuable commodity chemical. This short review highlights the current development related to an electrochemical conversion of CO2 between 2014 and 2018. In addition, this review discusses recent technologies and approaches through electrochemical reduction using electrocatalyst and biocatalyst. This review also aims in providing the research community with current research in this electrochemical field also inspiring new ideas in the CO2 electrochemical conversion technology.