A look at periodic trends in d-block molecular electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction

Abstract

Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction is of continued interest to sustainable energy research. Mononuclear transition metal complexes from Group 6 to Group 10 with a select subset of ligand frameworks have been demonstrated to be efficient electrochemical CO₂ reduction catalysts. Here, we review the known mononuclear complexes from Group 6 to Group 10, examining trends in activity, electronic structure of catalytic intermediates, and product selectivity. The correlation between differences in electronic structure and CO₂ reduction activity between these metal centers are discussed.