Salen ligand complexes as electrocatalysts for direct electrochemical reduction of gaseous carbon dioxide to value added products

CO 2 , being a linear and centrosymmetric molecule, is very stable, and the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 requires energy. Moreover, the CO 2 electroreduction proceeds at a significantly higher applied voltage than thermodynamically required. In this concern, salen ligand, H 2 L NO 2 , and its corresponding Ni( ii ) and Cu( ii ) complexes are synthesized and reported for the first time as electrocatalysts for CO 2 electroreduction. Both the metal complexes are active for CO 2 reduction and surprisingly result in formation of C 1 and C 2 hydrocarbons. The complexes are found to be very efficient to minimize overpotential required for the reaction as compared to their pure metal counterparts. Thus, the present study opens up a new class of metal complexes for the efficient electrochemical reduction of CO 2 having the potential to generate hydrocarbons at lower overpotentials. CO 2 , being a linear and centrosymmetric molecule, is very stable, and the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 requires energy. However, the salen complexes are found to be very efficient to minimize overpotential as compared to their metal counterparts.