The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide is the conversion of carbon dioxide to more reduced chemical species using electrical energy. It is one possible step in the broad scheme of carbon capture and utilization. The first examples of electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide are from the 19th century, when carbon dioxide was reduced to carbon monoxide using a zinc cathode. Research in this field intensified in the 1980s following the oil embargoes of the 1970s. Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide represents a possible means of producing chemicals or fuels, converting carbon dioxide (CO2) to organic feedstocks such as formic acid (HCOOH), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), ethylene (C2H4) and ethanol (C2H5OH). Among the more selective metallic catalysts in this field ar