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The global temperature increase must be limited to below 1.5 °C to alleviate the worst effects of climate change. Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction (ECO2R) to generate chemicals and feedstocks is considered one of the most promising technologies to cut CO2 emission at an industrial level. However, despite decades of studies, advances at the laboratory scale have not yet led to high industrial deployment rates. This Review discusses practical challenges in the industrial chain that hamper the scaling‐up deployment of the ECO2R technology. Faradaic efficiencies (FEs) of about 100 % and current densities above 200 mA cm−2 have been achieved for the ECO2R to CO/HCOOH, and the stability of the electrolysis system has been prolonged to 2000 h. For ECO2R to C2H4, the maximum FE is over 80 %, and the highest current density has reached the A cm−2 level. Thus, it is believed that ECO2R may have reached the stage for scale‐up. We aim to provide insights that can accelerate the development of the ECO2R technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), which is a typical semiconductor from the family of layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), is an attractive material for optoelectronic and photodetection applications because of its tunable bandgap and high quantum luminescence efficiency. Although a high photoresponsivity of 880-2000 AW−1 and photogain up to 5000 have been demonstrated in MoS2-based photodetectors, the light absorption and gain mechanisms are two fundamental issues preventing these materials from further improvement. In addition, it is still debated whether monolayer or multilayer MoS2 could deliver better performance. Here, we demonstrate a photoresponsivity of approximately 104 AW−1 and a photogain of approximately 107 electrons per photon in an n-n heterostructure photodetector that consists of a multilayer MoS2 thin film covered with a thin layer of graphene quantum dots (GQDs). The enhanced light-matter interaction results from effective charge transfer and the re-absorption of photons, leading to enhanced light absorption and the creation of electron-hole pairs. It is feasible to scale up the device and obtain a fast response, thus making it one step closer to practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global temperature increase must be limited to below 1.5 °C to alleviate the worst effects of climate change. Electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction (ECO 2 R) to generate chemicals and feedstocks is considered one of the most promising technologies to cut CO 2 emission at an industrial level. However, despite decades of studies, advances at the laboratory scale have not yet led to high industrial deployment rates. This Review discusses practical challenges in the industrial chain that hamper the scaling-up deployment of the ECO 2 R technology. Faradaic efficiencies (FEs) of about 100 % and current densities above 200 mA cm -2 have been achieved for the ECO 2 R to CO/HCOOH, and the stability of the electrolysis system has been prolonged to 2000 h. For ECO 2 R to C 2 H 4 , the maximum FE is over 80 %, and the highest current density has reached the A cm -2 level. Thus, it is believed that ECO 2 R may have reached the stage for scale-up. We aim to provide insights that can accelerate the development of the ECO 2 R technology., (© 2022 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)