Across the Board: Rui Cao on Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Abstract

In this series of articles, the Board Members of ChemSusChem review recent research articles that they consider of exceptional quality and importance for sustainability. This entry features Prof. Rui Cao, who discusses how tuning the second-sphere environments of Fe porphyrins can improve the activity and selectivity for CO₂ reduction. Substituents with proton relay capability, hydrogen-bonding, and electrostatic features have significant impact on the efficiency of Fe porphyrins for the electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction.

Keywords: carbon dioxide reduction; electrocatalysis; hydrogen bonds; iron porphyrins; substituent effects.