Recent advances in electroreduction of CO2 to CO using single atom Ni, N co-doped carbon-material based catalysts

Study of single-atom Ni and N co-doped carbon-material based catalysts (Ni-N-C) for CO2 electrochemical reduction (CO2ER) to CO began in the past decade. It has received a lot of attentions because it possessed ultra-high CO selectivity even under high current density and high overpotential. This article reviewed recent advances in Ni-N-C for CO2ER to CO, including nitrogen doped carbon-material based catalysts and Ni-N-C for CO2ER to CO. The catalytic activities of different forms of N in carbon-material based catalysts were summarized, and so far, the exact role of N in carbon-material based catalysts for CO2ER was controversial. Moreover, the catalytic performance, catalytic mechanism and catalytic performance modification for Ni-N-C were also summarized. The effects of N atoms and defect sites coordinated with Ni on catalytic activity, and the advantages and disadvantages of various carbon-carriers were analyzed. Although research on CO2ER to CO using Ni-N-C has made certain progress, such as the current density reaching industrial grade requirements, some key issues still needed to be solved to achieve its large-scale industrial applications, such as developing directional preparation technologies for high activity and high stability Ni-N-C and developing advanced carbon-material carriers, which were simple and mild preparation, low cost, corrosion-resistant high-temperature resistant. © 2024 Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd.. All rights reserved.