Electrochemical CO2 reduction to liquid fuels: Mechanistic pathways and surface/interface engineering of catalysts and electrolytes

The high energy density of green synthetic liquid chemicals and fuels makes them ideal for sustainable energy storage and transportation applications. Electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) directly into such high value-added chemicals can help us achieve a renewable C cycle. Such electrochemical reduction typically suffers from low faradaic efficiencies (FEs) and generates a mixture of products due to the complexity of controlling the reaction selectivity. This perspective summarizes recent advances in the mechanistic understanding of CO 2 reduction reaction pathways toward liquid products and the state-of-the-art catalytic materials for conversion of CO 2 to liquid C 1 (e.g., formic acid, methanol) and C 2+ products (e.g., acetic acid, ethanol, n -propanol). Many liquid fuels are being produced with FEs between 80% and 100%. We discuss the use of structure-binding energy relationsh…