Recent advancements related to silver-based electrocatalysts for carbon dioxide reduction reaction to carbon monoxide

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) is a progressive step toward the reduction of planetary carbon footprint. In this way, CO₂ can be valorized into valuable products, and particularly, CO₂ can be reduced to gaseous products (e.g. CO or methane) or into liquid products (i.e. C₁, C₂, C₃, etc.). Interestingly, CO₂RR and hydrogen reduction reaction (HER) are competitive reactions; therefore, syngas (CO + H₂) can also be produced at different H₂:CO ratios. Depending on the transition metal used as an electrocatalyst for the CO₂RR, the selectivity toward a specific product can be properly tuned. In this opinion, the attention is focused on the reduction of CO₂ to CO using Ag-based electrocatalysts. Reaction mechanisms to produce H₂, CO, and formate are described and highlighted. The effect of the morphology is described, and the performance of Ag-based electrocatalysts toward CO₂-to-CO and syngas production is presented, focusing on the recent available literature.