Carbon-Based Materials Electrocatalysts for CO2 Conversions
A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Electrocatalysis".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026
Special Issue Editor
Interests: green chemistry; electrocatalysis; CO2 conversion; catalysts design; porous materials synthesis and application
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Atmospheric CO2 levels continue to climb, intensifying the urgency to convert this thermodynamically stable molecule into fuels and value-added chemicals. The electrochemical valorisation of CO2 offers a unique opportunity to close the carbon loop while storing intermittent renewable electricity in chemical form. Carbon-based electrocatalysts—doped graphenes, carbon nanotubes, porous carbons, single-atom M–N–C motifs, and hetero-structured composites—offer tunable surface chemistry, low cost, earth abundance, high conductivity, and shape-selective mass transport that complement traditional metal centres. Recent advances reveal that engineering defects, heteroatom dopants, and interfacial defects can dramatically lower over-potentials for CO2-to-CO, formate, ethylene, ethanol, and even C3+ products while maintaining Faradaic efficiencies above 90 %. This Special Issue assembles experimental, theoretical, and techno-economic studies that accelerate the deployment of carbon-based electrocatalysts in practical CO2 electrolysers.
We welcome original research, communications, and reviews covering the following:
- Synthetic strategies for N, S, B, P, F, or multi-doped carbons, hierarchical porosity, and single-atom coordination.
- Operando spectroscopy, DFT, micro-kinetic, and machine-learning insights into active-site structures and reaction pathways.
- Electrolyser integration: gas-diffusion electrodes, membrane–electrode assemblies, flow-cell stacks, and solid-oxide co-electrolysis.
- Life-cycle assessment and comparative cost analysis versus conventional metallic catalysts.
Dr. Leiduan Hao
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- carbon electrocatalyst
- CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR)
- doped graphene
- single-atom catalyst
- CO2 conversion
- electrolyser integration
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