Navigating CO utilization in tandem electrocatalysis of CO2

Tandem CO2 reduction, which integrates the cascade CO2-to-CO and CO-to-C2+ product conversion in series on two distinct, complementary catalysts, provides an effective approach to circumvent the linear scaling relationship limitations and improve C2+ product generation.The C–C coupling is the rate-determining step for generating C2+ products during electrochemical CO2 conversion and the reaction rate is increased with the local CO concentration.The design of tandem CO2 reduction catalysts/electrodes should enable efficient CO transport, balance the CO generation and utilization rate, and match the CO generation and C2+ production overpotential.