Recent Progress in Surface and Interface Engineering for Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

The conversion of CO2 through CO2 reduction reaction (CO2 RR) into valuable products has potential to lessen the greenhouse effect caused by uncontrolled CO2 emissions. Challenges of CO2 RR reaction lie in the stabilization of the reaction intermediate and the activation of the inert chemical bond of CO2 , but the application of CO2 RR at large scale is limited by the high cost and structural instability of traditional catalysts. By applying CO2 RR catalyst with delicate structure of stable CO2 intermediate to industrial production, the problems such as high cost of CO2 conversion, low catalytic selectivity and poor catalytic efficiency can be effectively solved, showing better application value and significance than traditional catalysts. This review focuses on the defects, and metal-support interaction (MSI) effect to modify the catalyst and other strategies to enhance the effectiveness of CO2 reduction. The challenges and prospects from the three perspectives are also discussed to provide suggestions for the designing of efficient CO2 RR catalysts in the future. This review offers new insights and research perspectives of reducing CO2 emission through recycling CO2 , and neutralizing the carbon cycle.