Recent Trends, Benchmarking, and Challenges of Electrochemical Reduction of CO₂ by Molecular Catalysts

CO₂ reduction using molecular catalysts is a key area of study for achieving electrical-to-chemical energy storage and feedstock chemical synthesis. Compared to classical metallic solid-state catalysts, these molecular catalysts often result in high performance and selectivity, even under unfavorable aqueous environments. This review considers the recent state-of-the-art molecular catalysts for CO₂ electroreduction and explains the observed performance, therefore guiding the design principles for the next generation of molecules and material/molecule hybrid electrodes. The most recent advances related to these issues are discussed.