The advancement of porous bimetal nanostructures for electrochemical CO2 utilization to valuable products: Experimental and theoretical insights

Abstract

The growth of coherently engineered porous bimetal (PBM) nanostructures shows great progress in electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO2) utilization. This is due to their remarkable catalytic and physicochemical merits that present an encouraging approach for CO2 conversion into valuable products (i.e., fuels and chemicals). Hence, this review presents recent advances in experimental, in-situ analysis and theoretical studies of PBM electrocatalysts, including PBM Cu-based and PBM Cu-free electrocatalysts, toward CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) and comprehend its fundamental mechanisms. Various synthesis strategies were utilized to construct PBM nanostructures with distinct compositions, morphology, and synergism for excellent CO2RR activity, stability and product selectivity. As corroborated by theoretical calculations that revealed beneficial electronic features and reaction routes with facile adsorption energies for reactant (CO2) and intermediate species on the various active sites of PBM nanostructures in easing the CO2RR. Future research efforts should establish robust framework for experimental, in-situ analysis, theoretical simulations and automated machine learning in developing next-generation electrochemical CO2 utilization technologies with PBM nanostructures. Finally, this study emphasizes the potential of PBM nanostructures for efficient electrochemical CO2 utilization and provides a pathway to sustainable and inexpensively viable carbon-neutrality.