摘要:

Electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction (CO2R) presents a promising route to recycle anthropogenic CO2 and intermittent renewable energy into chemical fuels. Steering the selectivity of electrocatalytic CO2R is of paramount significance in determining the practicability of this technology and one of the grand challenges in the field of CO2 chemistry. The rapidly developed computational methods accelerates the understanding of complicated reaction mechanisms and the discovery of new catalysts. Combined with operando characterization and precise synthesis of targeted catalytic materials, the grand challenge of steering the CO2R selectivity is expected to be addressed. 

In this talk, we will present our efforts in interfacing theory and experiments for selective CO2R, with a particular focus on the discovery of alternative or supplementary reaction descriptors and the catalyst design based on these descriptors. Specifically, the formation of mutlicarbon oxygenate/hydrocarbon products through CO2R will serve as a representative case in our research framework. And then we will show the collaboration with experimentalists to improve the efficiency and selectivity of CO2R. We hope these efforts will contribute to the understanding and development of electrocatalytic conversion of CO2 to useful fuels and chemicals.