Boosting the Electrocatalytic CO(2) Reduction Reaction by Nanostructured Metal Materials via Defects Engineering

Electrocatalytic CO(2) reduction reaction (CO(2)RR) is one of the most effective methods to convert CO(2) into useful fuels. Introducing defects into metal nanostructures can effectively improve the catalytic activity and selectivity towards CO(2)RR. This review provides the recent progress on the use of metal nanomaterials with defects towards electrochemical CO(2)RR and defects engineering methods. Accompanying these ideas, we introduce the structure of defects characterized by electron microscopy techniques as the characterization and analysis of defects are relatively difficult. Subsequently, we present the intrinsic mechanism of how the defects affect CO(2)RR performance. Finally, to promote a wide and deep study in this field, the perspectives and challenges concerning defects engineering in metal nanomaterials towards CO(2)RR are put forward.