The electrochemical reduction of CO2 holds great promise for lowering the concentration of CO2 in the Earth′s atmosphere. However, several challenges have hindered the commercialization of this technology, including energy efficiency, the solubility of CO2 in the aqueous phase, and electrode stability. In this Minireview, we highlight and summarize the main advantages and limitations that metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) may offer in this field of research, either when used directly as electrocatalysts or when used as catalyst precursors.@en

A nitrogen-doped carbon was synthesized through the pyrolysis of the well-known metal-organic framework ZIF-8, followed by a subsequent acid treatment, and has been applied as a catalyst in the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide. The resulting electrode shows Faradaic efficiencies to carbon monoxide as high as ∼78%, with hydrogen being the only byproduct. The pyrolysis temperature determines the amount and the accessibility of N species in the carbon electrode, in which pyridinic-N and quaternary-N species play key roles in the selective formation of carbon monoxide.@en

Mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon nanoparticles with atomically dispersed iron sites (named mesoNC-Fe) are synthesized via high-temperature pyrolysis of an Fe containing ZIF-8 MOF. Hydrolysis of tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS) in the MOF framework prior to pyrolysis plays an essential role in maintaining a high surface area during the formation of the carbon structure, impeding the formation of iron (oxide) nanoparticles. To gain inside on the nature of the resulting atomically dispersed Fe moieties, HERFD-XANES, EXAFS and valence-to-core X-ray emission spectroscopies have been used. The experimental spectra (both XAS and XES) combined with theoretical calculations suggest that iron has a coordination sphere including a porphyrinic environment and OH/H2O moieties responsible for the high activity in CO2 electroreduction. DFT calculations demonstrate that CO formation is favored in these structures because the free energy barriers of *COOH formation are decreased and the adsorption of *H is impeded. The combination of such a unique coordination environment with a high surface area in the carbon structure of mesoNC-Fe makes more active sites accessible during catalysis and promotes CO2 electroreduction.@en

We report the preparation and electrocatalytic performance of silver-containing gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) derived from a silver coordination polymer (Ag-CP). Layer-by-layer growth of the Ag-CP onto porous supports was applied to control Ag loading. Subsequent electro-decomposition of the Ag-CP resulted in highly selective and efficient CO2-to-CO GDEs in aqueous CO2 electroreduction. Afterward, the metal-organic framework (MOF)-mediated approach was transferred to a gas-fed flow electrolyzer for high current density tests. The in situ formed GDE, with a low silver loading of 0.2 mg cm-2, showed a peak performance of jCO ≈ 385 mA cm-2 at around -1.0 V vs RHE and stable operation with high FECO (>96%) at jTotal = 300 mA cm-2 over a 4 h run. These results demonstrate that the MOF-mediated approach offers a facile route for manufacturing uniformly dispersed Ag catalysts for CO2 electrochemical reduction by eliminating ill-defined deposition steps (drop-casting, etc.) while allowing control of the catalyst structure through self-assembly.@en

The electrochemical conversion of CO2 constitutes an interesting pathway to close the anthropogenic carbon cycles. The ability to reach stable operation in short time makes this method a perfect candidate to buffer the intermittency of renewable power sources, such as solar cells and wind power. As is the case of heterogeneous catalysis, the key to commercialize a process lies in the optimization of the catalytic phase. In this thesis, we take advantage of the unique properties of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to synthesize efficient catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2ER). Specifically, the two properties we utilize are the atomic dispersion of the elements and the highly designable building blocks (Chapter 1)....@en