Opportunities for CO₂ upgrading to C₃ oxygenates using tandem electrocatalytic-thermocatalytic processes

Catalytic conversion of CO₂ to value-added chemicals represents a pathway for mitigating CO₂ emissions. Many recent studies have demonstrated promising results of CO₂ conversion by either thermocatalysis or electrocatalysis. In this article, we discuss tandem electrocatalytic-thermocatalytic processes that potentially have advantages over either process alone. We use the conversion of CO₂ to propanal/propanol as a case study to illustrate the feasibility of the tandem process. We also discuss opportunities and challenges for converting CO₂ using tandem electrocatalytic-thermocatalytic approaches.