Perspectives of Magnetically Enhanced Electroconversion of CO₂ to Formic Acid and Formate

The persistent accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere represents a major environmental threat facing the world today. The electrochemical reduction of CO2 (ERCO2) offers an appealing opportunity to convert waste CO2 to valuable products. Nevertheless, this technology has been associated with several shortcomings that could compromise its applicability at a large scale. The use of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) configuration for the cathode, composed of a gas diffusion electrode (GDE) and an ion-exchange membrane, stands out for the results obtained. This promising alternative still needs to solve the difficulty of operating at high current densities due to the use of humidified CO2 input streams. Coupling of magnetic fields and ERCO2 represents another interesting strategy for boosting electrocatalytic performance. Herein, a comparative analysis on the actual impact of MEA-based and magnetic electrolyzers is provided. To gain in-depth understanding of the extent of the enhancement in the ERCO2, this overview is focused on the widely researched electrochemical conversion of CO2 to formic acid/formate via the above-mentioned strategies. Collectively, this perspective evidences the advantages and bottlenecks of MEA-based and magnetic electrolyzers on ERCO2 and highlights the potential of magnetic fields for overcoming some challenges of MEA-based systems.