Summary: | Electrocatalysis has become an important topic in various areas of research, including chemical catalysis, environmental research, and chemical engineering. There have been a multitude of different catalysts used in the electrocatalytic reduction of CO<sub>2</sub>, which include large classes of materials such as transition metal oxide nanoparticles (TMO), transition metal nanoparticles (TMNp), carbon-based nanomaterials, and transition metal sulfides (TMS), as well as porphyrins and phthalocyanine molecules. This review is focused on the CO<sub>2</sub> reduction reaction (CO<sub>2</sub>RR) and the main products produced using TMS nanomaterials. The main reaction products of the CO<sub>2</sub>RR include carbon monoxide (CO), formate/formic acid (HCOO<sup>−</sup>/HCOOH), methanol (CH<sub>3</sub>OH), ethanol (CH<sub>3</sub>CH<sub>2</sub>OH), methane (CH<sub>4</sub>), and ethene (C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub>). The products of the CO<sub>2</sub>RR have been linked to the type of transition metal–sulfide catalyst used in the reaction. The TMS has been shown to control the intermediate products and thus the reaction pathway. Both experimental and computational methods have been utilized to determine the CO<sub>2</sub> binding and chemically reduced intermediates, which drive the reaction pathways for the CO<sub>2</sub>RR and are discussed in this review.
|