Electrocatalysis: Prospects and Role to Enable an E-Chemistry Future

Abstract

Electrocatalysis is a crucial technology that will enable future low-carbon chemical production and energy beyond fossil fuels. Notwithstanding the intense and growing research in the area, the potentialities of the field are largely unexplored. We provide case examples and discuss emerging possibilities that have still not been investigated enough but are necessary to exploit this potential and enable future e-chemistry. Starting from defining trends and setting the scene, as well as clarifying the difference between electrochemistry and electrocatalysis, some elements of this vision to foster innovation in the field are discussed. The aim is to stimulate discussion and reflection rather than review the state-of-the-art. Aspects discussed regard i) passing from electro to photoelectrocatalytic approaches, ii) the possibilities of making chemicals from the air, iii) the exploitation of both anodic and cathodic reactions, as well as tandem/paired electrocatalytic reactions, and iv) emerging possibilities for anodic selective oxidation and mediated synthesis. Priorities and strategies to enable an e-chemistry future are discussed. Intensifying research in these directions and extending the still-too-limited current approaches, including in modelling and design, is the necessary effort to accelerate the realisation of a distributed future e-chemistry.