Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 by thiophene-substituted rhenium(I) complexes and by their polymerized films

Critical overview of the very recent literature on heterogeneous electrochemical catalysis of CO2 reduction with organic metal modified electrodes is summarized. Five methods for electrode funtionalization are discussed and compared in terms of efficiency and selectivity: adsorption, by using membranes, adopting an “hybrid” covalent organic framework approach, performing electropolymerization directly on the electrode surface, and exploiting the formation of strong covalent chemical bonds between the surface and the desired catalyst.