The increasing release of carbon dioxide into atmosphere has caused serious environmental consequences and closing the carbon loop is therefore essential for promoting the transition towards a sustainable development. Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (E−CO₂RR) represents a powerful strategy for reducing CO₂ levels in atmosphere and obtaining value-added chemicals and fuels using renewable energy sources. Despite the important achievements obtained so far, major issues associated with activity and selectivity of electrocatalysts toward the production of multi-carbon (C₂₊) products hinder large-scale applications. Hence, a thorough understanding of catalytic mechanisms is needed for advancing the design of efficient electrocatalysts to drive the reaction pathway to the desired products. This review summarizes the latest advances in the design of nanostructured metal-based catalysts for E−CO₂RR, with a special emphasis on the synthesis procedures and electrochemical performance of metal-nitrogen-carbon catalysts. An overview on the catalytic mechanisms is included along with a discussion of the experimental and computational techniques for mechanistic studies and catalyst development. Finally, we outline a perspective on the relationship between structure, morphology and electrochemical activity highlighting challenges and outlook on developing metal-nitrogen-carbon electrocatalysts for E−CO₂RR to multi-carbon products.

越来越多的二氧化碳排放到大气中已经造成了严重的环境后果，因此，关闭碳循环对于促进向可持续发展的过渡至关重要。二氧化碳的电化学还原 (E-CO ₂ RR) 代表了一种有效的策略，用于降低大气中的CO ₂水平并使用可再生能源获得增值化学品和燃料。尽管迄今为止取得了重要成就，但与电催化剂对多碳（C ₂₊) 产品阻碍大规模应用。因此，需要对催化机制有透彻的了解，以推进有效电催化剂的设计，以驱动反应途径获得所需的产物。本综述总结了用于 E-CO ₂的纳米结构金属基催化剂设计的最新进展RR，特别强调金属-氮-碳催化剂的合成程序和电化学性能。包括对催化机制的概述以及对机理研究和催化剂开发的实验和计算技术的讨论。最后，我们概述了结构、形态和电化学活性之间关系的观点，突出了开发用于 E-CO ₂ RR 到多碳产品的金属-氮-碳电催化剂的挑战和前景。