Advanced Catalyst Restructuring Strategies for Targeted C 1 Production in CO 2 Electroreduction

Abstract Electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) for useful chemicals is of increasingly significance to realize carbon neutrality. Among diverse products varying from C 1 to C 3 , the C 1 production is widely accepted as a promising candidate. Various metal catalysts for C 1 production including copper, gold, silver, zinc, bismuth inevitably undergo the evolution with respect to structure and compositions change. The transformation confuses real active center and complicates the structure‐performance relationships. Herein, this review summarizes the up‐to‐date research on electrocatalysts reconstruction in the CO 2 RR. The fundamental origin of electrocatalysts reconstruction and underlying mechanism governing structure and constituent change during CO 2 RR for C 1 products are discussed. Besides, based on effective in situ and operando characterizations, the different dynamic evolutions are tracked such as valence state variations, local coordination structure rearrangements, phase transformations, morphology alternations. More importantly, the rational strategies to regulate reconstruction process toward a highly active structure under CO 2 RR condition are highlighted including pre‐catalysts design, adaptive molecule engineering, and local reaction microenvironment tailor. Future directions are also proposed to tackle the critical challenges in enabling practical industrial applications of CO 2 RR technologies.