Since imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) were discovered to significantly reduce overpotential for electrochemical reduction of CO₂ and suppress hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) [1], numerous attempts to clarify the mechanism of the co-catalytic activity were made [2-4]. We approach this problem from synthetic point of view, synthesizing ILs of different structures (e.g. side chains functionalities, heterocyclic backbones, heteroatoms variations) and establishing the change of their co-catalytic performance (see [5]). Some of ILs being synthesized possess much higher activity compared to the classical imidazolium ones, and some are found to exhibit higher stability. Therefore, usage of ILs provides a tunable and promising option for electrochemical reduction of CO₂.

[1] Brian A. Rosen, Amin Salehi-Khojin, Michael R. Torson, Wei Zhu, Devin T. Whipple, Paul J. A. Kenis, Richard I. Masel, Science, 2011, 334, 643-644
[2] Brian A. Rosen, John L. Haan, Prabuddha Mukherjee, Bjorn Braunschweig, Wei Zhu, Amin Salehi-Khojin, Dana D. Dlott, Richard I. Masel, J. Phys. Chem. C., 2012, 116, 15307-15312
[3] Natalia Garcia Rey, Dana D. Dlott, J. Phys. Chem. C., 2015, 119, 20892-20899
[4] Leanne D. Chen, Makoto Urushihara, Karen Chan, Jens K. Norskov, ACS Catal., 2016, 6, 7133-7139
[5] Genevieve P. S. Lau, Marcel Schreier, Dmitry Vasilyev, Rosario Scopelliti, Michael Graetzel, Paul J. Dyson, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138, 7820-7823