Copper Coordination Materials for Selective CO₂ Electroreduction Toward Multi-Carbon Products

Abstract

The electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) is a highly promising carbon neutralization pathway to enable efficient CO₂ conversion into high-value–added multi-carbon (C₂₊) fuels and chemicals. However, the formation of C₂₊ products involves complex C-C coupling kinetics and multi-step proton-coupled electron transfer processes, placing stringent demands on the activity and selectivity of catalysts. Copper (Cu) is one of the few metals capable of efficiently producing C₂₊ products through CO₂RR; yet, its selectivity, overpotential, and stability remain to be improved. Recently, Cu-based coordination materials, with unique coordination environments and electronic structures, have been discovered to show pronounced advantages in tuning CO₂RR performance. By leveraging the coordination interaction between Cu sites and ligands, the geometric configuration and the electronic structure of Cu active sites can be finely manipulated. Hence, these materials contribute toward optimizing the catalytic kinetics of critical C₁/C₂ intermediates, thereby promoting CO₂RR performance. This review summarizes the recent advances of Cu-based coordination catalysts in CO₂ electroreduction into C₂₊ products. First, this review elucidates the reaction kinetics of electrocatalytic CO₂RR into various C₂₊ products. Moreover, the design strategies and the catalytic mechanism of various Cu coordination materials for CO₂RR are introduced in detail. Special emphasis is placed on how catalysts regulate the reaction kinetics and promote the catalytic activity and selectivity of C₂₊ product formation. Finally, the current challenges and future prospects of Cu-based coordination catalysts for CO₂RR are discussed, providing theoretical guidance for their future development.

Keywords

carbon neutralization / CO₂ electroreduction / copper coordination materials / ligand engineering / multi-carbon products

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