Fig. 4: Coordination analysis of the first solvation shell of alkali metal cations around TS.

a The number of coordinated O for Li+, Na+, K+, and Cs+ cations at the Cu(100)–electrolyte interface with and without the *CO2. b Contour map of the distance distribution between alkali metal cations and two oxygens of CO2, statistically derived from snapshots around the transition state. The results of Li+, Na+, K+, and Cs+ are represented by green, orange, purple, and blue, respectively.