Surface and Interface Engineering for the Catalysts of Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Abstract The massive use of fossil fuels releases a great amount of CO 2 , which substantially contributes to the global warming. For the global goal of putting CO 2 emission under control, effective utilization of CO 2 is particularly meaningful. Electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction reaction (eCO 2 RR) has great potential in CO 2 utilization, because it can convert CO 2 into valuable carbon‐containing chemicals and feedstock using renewable electricity. The catalyst design for eCO 2 RR is a key challenge to achieving efficient conversion of CO 2 to fuels and useful chemicals. For a typical heterogeneous catalyst, surface and interface engineering is an effective approach to enhance reaction activity. Herein, the development and research progress in CO 2 catalysts with focus on surface and interface engineering are reviewed. First, the fundaments of eCO 2 RR is briefly discussed from the reaction mechanism to performance evaluation methods, introducing the role of the surface and interface engineering of electrocatalyst in eCO 2 RR. Then, several routes to optimize the surface and interface of CO 2 electrocatalysts, including morphology, dopants, atomic vacancies, grain boundaries, surface modification, etc., are reviewed and representative examples are given. At the end of this review, we share our personal views in future research of eCO 2 RR.