Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide: Recent Advances on Au-Based Nanocatalysts

The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to other high value-added chemicals under ambient conditions is a promising and ecofriendly strategy to achieve sustainable carbon recycling. However, the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is still confronted with a large number of challenges, such as high reaction overpotential and low product selectivity. Therefore, the rapid development of appropriate electrocatalysts is the key to promoting CO2 electroreduction. Over the past few decades, Au-based nanocatalysts have been demonstrated to be promising for the selective CO2RR to CO owing to their low reaction overpotential, good product selectivity, high Faraday efficiency and inhibition of the hydrogen evolution reaction. In this respect, this review first introduces the fundamentals of the electrochemical reduction of CO2 and then focuses on recent accomplishments with respect to Au-based nanocatalysts for CO2RR. The manipulation of various factors, e.g., the nanoporous structure, nanoparticle size, composition, morphology, support and ligand, allows for the identification of several clues for excellent Au-based nanocatalysts. We hope that this review will offer readers some important insights on Au-based catalyst design and provide new ideas for developing robust electrocatalysts.