Photo/electrocatalytic hydrogen exploitation for CO2 reduction toward solar fuels production

This chapter discusses the transformation of CO2 to value-added products, with a focus on the exploitation of sun-driven water splitting for generation of hydrogen protons (H+) that can be used in situ for the CO2 reduction reaction. It starts by introducing CO2 as a raw material for the production of fuels or chemicals by conventional (thermocatalytic) conversion processes or emerging sun-driven technologies. It then gives a background about the different figures of merit that must be considered and identifies the opportunities for syngas production. Different architectures for syngas production are presented, considering the photo-driven systems and with particular emphasis on the electrochemical systems. It proceeds by extensively discussing various catalysts for these two kinds of systems. Finally, it tackles the promising solvent-less route for the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to value-added products.