title: Electrochemical CO2 Reduction - A Critical View on Fundamentals, Materials and Applications.
abstract: The electrochemical reduction of CO(2) has been extensively studied over the past decades. Nevertheless, this topic has been tackled so far only by using a very fundamental approach and mostly by trying to improve kinetics and selectivities toward specific products in half-cell configurations and liquid-based electrolytes. The main drawback of this approach is that, due to the low solubility of CO(2) in water, the maximum CO(2) reduction current which could be drawn falls in the range of 0.01-0.02 A cm(-2). This is at least an order of magnitude lower current density than the requirement to make CO(2)-electrolysis a technically and economically feasible option for transformation of CO(2) into chemical feedstock or fuel thereby closing the CO(2) cycle. This work attempts to give a short overview on the status of electrochemical CO(2) reduction with respect to challenges at the electrolysis cell as well as at the catalyst level. We will critically discuss possible pathways to increase both operating current density and conversion efficiency in order to close the gap with established energy conversion technologies.
authors: Electrochemistry Laboratory, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland. julien.durst@psi.ch.
authors: Julien
authors: J
authors: Durst
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland; A.N. Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskii pr. 31, Moscow 119991, Russia. rudnev@dcb.unibe.ch.
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Rudnev
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors: Abhijit
authors: A
authors: Dutta
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors: Yongchun
authors: Y
authors: Fu
authors: Electrochemistry Laboratory, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
authors: Juan
authors: J
authors: Herranz
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors: Veerabhadrarao
authors: V
authors: Kaliginedi
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors: Akiyoshi
authors: A
authors: Kuzume
authors: Electrochemistry Laboratory, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
authors: Anastasia A
authors: AA
authors: Permyakova
authors: Electrochemistry Laboratory, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
authors: Yohan
authors: Y
authors: Paratcha
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Broekmann
authors: Electrochemistry Laboratory, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland; Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors: Thomas J
authors: TJ
authors: Schmidt