Engineering of nanostructured metal-based catalysts for electrochemical reduction of CO2

Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction (ECO2R) into value-added chemicals and liquid fuels using renewable energy is considered as a viable option for CO2 recycling and closing the carbon cycle. Design and development of cheap and efficient catalysts holds the key to the practical implementation of this technology. Studies have focused on the development of nanostructured metal-based catalysts for ECO2R. The interfacial and surface engineering are two efficient strategies to improve the catalytic properties of these metal-based catalysts by altering the intrinsic activity and the electronic structure of the catalysts. This thesis focuses on the utilization of these two strategies to tune catalysts for achieving improved ECO2R performance. Three different nanostructured metal-based catalysts have been developed via simple and scalable methods including core-shell structured gold-polyaniline (Au-PANI) nanocomposites, nitrogen-doped carbon supported copper nanoparticles and copper oxide-derived copper nanowires.