Engineering intricacies of implementing single-atom alloy catalysts for low-temperature electrocatalytic CO2 reduction

Abstract

Catalysts research for electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reactions (CO₂R) has undergone rapid growth in the last decade. Single-atom alloy catalysts (SAAs) featuring atomically dispersed metal dopants on host metal surfaces have shown promises in boosting CO₂R yield by optimizing the structure and synergy of the catalytic metals at the atomic scale. Despite the exciting development of SAAs for CO₂R in fundamental science, dedicated studies for its engineering implementation have been absent. We use this perspective to discuss our non-exhaustive engineering considerations for implementing SAAs for CO₂R. The perspective starts with a brief overview of the current research status for SAAs in CO₂R, followed by focal points on structure uncertainties associated with catalyst manufacturing, catalyst layer degradation during reaction, and possibilities for SAAs to mitigate the salt precipitation issue at the device level. We hope our opinions will engage increasing attention toward the engineering catalysis research for applying SAAs to CO₂R at scale.