A comprehensive review on Zn-CO2 batteries with efficient CO2 conversion to value-added fuels: Advances in catalysts, configurations, and scalability

Integration of CO 2 conversion technologies with energy storage devices remains an attractive yet difficult milestone. For this purpose, zinc‑carbon dioxide (Zn-CO 2 ) batteries are becoming popular due to their unique ability to target two sustainable goals of providing clean and affordable energy, while combating increasing amounts of CO 2 in the atmosphere for climate action. However, the previous research on this miraculous battery predominantly discusses only the cathode catalysts and the corresponding performance parameters. So, this review aims to provide discussion not only on the cathode catalysts but also on the development, mechanism, design, configurations' advantages and limitations, electrolyte chemistry, and significance of zinc anode. Also, the characteristics of ion-exchange membranes used in dual-chamber configurations are analyzed in a comparative way of their mechanistic ion transfer and impact on overall battery efficiency. Further, the extensive discussion and analysis of available cathode catalysts, their role in battery performance including the faradaic efficiency, product selectivity, and cyclic stability, is provided. These cathode catalysts have been categorized based on the type of product evolved, including CO, HCOOH, CH 4 , syngas along with their composition, such as metal-based, single-atom catalysis, metal-free, and carbonaceous catalysts. Finally, the challenges in the scalability and application in large-scale applications have been thoroughly discussed, along with the possible directions to overcome these problems. Overall, the fundamentals, advances, and components and techno-economic analysis has been discussed to evaluate future potential of Zn-CO 2 batteries.