Advances of Electrocatalytic, Photocatalytic and Thermocatalytic CO₂ Conversion to Valuable Products

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is commonly known as a greenhouse gas with adverse impacts on the environment and substantially contributes to global warming. On the bright side, once captured CO₂ can be utilized as an abundant carbon source to produce a variety of fuels and chemicals ranging from hydrocarbons to oxygenates. Electrocatalytic, photocatalytic, and thermocatalytic CO₂ conversion to valuable products as two major CO₂ utilization technologies have attracted much attention in the recent years. Thermocatalytic transformations of CO₂ predominately involve relatively low-temperature (≤523 K) hydrogenation reactions that may produce CH₄, CO or CH₃OH. Meanwhile, the more advanced approach of electrochemical CO₂ reduction reactions, aims to simultaneously mitigate CO₂ emissions while storing renewable fuels/electricity for use on-demand. If powered by wind or solar energy, electrochemical CO₂ reduction provides efficient and versatile platforms to both reduce atmospheric CO₂ and store intermittent renewable energy. Electrochemical and photocatalytic CO₂ reduction can be operated at ambient conditions with several tunable products (e.g., CO, formic acid, C₂H₄, etc.).

The goal of this Research Topic is to provide recent and focused studies on the advances, promises and challenges associated with electrocatalytic, photocatalytic, and thermocatalytic CO₂ utilization and conversion processes. These can include for instance, studies on catalyst design and characterization and advances in gas-diffusion electrodes (GDEs) as the new class of electrode design for high-rate reaction will be included. In addition, novel reactor designs for more stable reactions will be focused on. Moreover, novel designs related to integrated thermo-electrocatalytic and photo-electrocatalytic systems are welcome.

Considering the promises of electrocatalytic, photocatalytic and thermal CO₂ reduction and wide range of potential products, our Research Topic will attract much attention from active researchers in these fields around the world. We encourage submissions covering topics including, but not limited to, the below themes:

• Novel catalysts for CO₂ reduction (electrochemical, photochemical, and thermal) to value-added products
• Electrode design and gas-diffusion electrodes (GDEs) for high-rate CO₂ reduction
• Catalyst characterization, including in-situ characterizations and operando spectroscopy techniques to unveil new concepts and insights into CO₂ reduction reactions
• Mechanism exploration and modeling of CO₂ reduction
• New reactor configurations for performance enhancement
• Technique development and integration of electrocatalytic, photocatalytic and thermocatalytic CO₂ conversion for higher energy efficiency CO₂ conversion

Keywords: CO2 reduction reaction, Gas-diffusion electrodes, Electrocatalysis, Electrode design, Membrane–electrode assembly, CO2 hydrogenation, Thermal CO2 conversion, Integrated Photoelectrochemical CO2 reduction, CO2 Photoreduction, Photocatalysis

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.