Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Reaction on Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Catalysts

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) has been considered as the promising solution for converting atmospheric CO₂ into low-cost carbon fuels. For this purpose, carbonaceous materials have been widely employed due to their outstanding physicochemical properties. However, pristine carbon material shows a negligible electrocatalytic activity towards CO₂RR. Therefore, in recent years, heteroatom doping, especially nitrogen doping, in carbon frameworks has been emerged as the most promising route to improve the electrochemical performance of CO₂RR. N-doping breaks the electroneutrality of the carbon framework and thereby introduces the active sites and defects into the structure, which facilitates the adsorption of CO₂ molecule. This chapter provides an overview of the progress made in N-doped carbon (NDC) electrocatalysts for CO₂RR. The synthesis of various NDCs has been discussed in detail along with the electrochemical performance towards CO₂RR. Moreover, we have also shed some light on the presence and type of active sites and the underlying reaction mechanism of NDCs for electrochemical CO₂RR.