Microenvironment Modulation in Carbon-Supported Single-Atom Catalysts for Efficient Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Abstract

The electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (ECRR) becomes an effective way to reduce excess CO₂ in the air and a promising strategy to maintain carbon balance. Carbon-supported single-atom catalysts (C-SACs) is a kind of cost savings and most promising catalysts for ECRR. For C-SACs, the key to achieving efficient ECRR performance is to adjusting the electronic structure of the central metal atoms by modulating their microenvironment of the catalysts. Not only the coordination numbers and hetero-atom coordination, but also the regulation of diatomic sites have a great influence on the performance of C-SACs. This review mainly focuses on recent studies for the microenvironment modulation in C-SACs for efficient ECRR. We hope that this review can contribute readers a comprehensive insight in the current research status of C-SACs for ECRR, as well as provide help for the rational design of C-SACs with better ECRR performance.

Keywords: carbon-supported single-atom catalysts; electrocatalytic CO2 reduction; microenvironment modulation.