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Carbon dioxide (CO₂) electroreduction is a sustainable way to reduce the carbon footprint of producing carbon-based chemicals. This work analyses voltage distributions within CO₂ electrolysers, identifies the sources of inefficiencies and highlights opportunities for system optimization.

Conventional alkaline and neutral CO₂-to-CH₄ systems suffer carbon loss, and recovering the lost carbon requires input energy exceeding the heating value of CH₄. Here, the authors report a chelating strategy to obtain Cu-N/O single sites decorated Cu clusters, which enables energy- and carbon-efficient CH₄ electroproduction in an acidic system.

Enhancing the kinetics and selectivity of CO₂/CO electroreduction towards valuable multi-carbon products poses a scientific challenge and is imperative for practical applicability. Here the authors report that modifying copper catalysts with surface thiol ligands significantly improves acetate selectivity.

The development of a tandem catalyst, consisting of two distinct nanoscale-engineered layers, enables efficient multicarbon production with high CO₂ utilization in an acidic CO₂ electroreduction environment.

Metal borides/borates are promising candidates to become high-performance alkaline oxygen evolution reaction catalysts. This study reports an in-situ phase composition modulation approach to fabricate boride/borate-based catalysts.

Despite the natural abundance and promising properties of Si, there are few examples of crystalline Si-based catalysts. Here, the authors report an epitaxial growth method to construct Co single atoms on Si for light driven CO2 reduction to syngas.

Electrosynthesis of higher carbon products (C₄₊) in a high selectivity has not been achieved by the direct reduction of CO₂ or CO. Here, the authors use a cascade electrocatalysis–thermocatalysis approach to produce butane from CO with an overall selectivity of 43%.

Performing CO₂ reduction in acidic conditions enables high CO₂ utilization. Here, the authors report an electrodeposited Cu catalyst which achieves a 60% faradaic efficiency for ethylene and 90% for multicarbon products–both records for acidic CO₂ reduction.

Copper is unique among CO₂ electrocatalysts owing to its ability to produce multicarbon products at high rates; however, achieving selectivity for specific products remains challenging. Here, Cu surfaces decorated with alkaline earth metal oxides are found to strongly favour alcohols over hydrocarbons.

The direct electrosynthesis of acetic acid from CO₂ typically has the drawback of CO₂ crossover. Now, a cascade approach for the electroreduction of CO₂ to CO, followed by CO to acetic acid, is reported in which off-target intermediates are destabilized, leading to an acetic acid Faradaic efficiency of 70%.

Advanced security applications require materials responsive to different stimuli with remarkable stability. Here, Sargent et al. introduce Ge homogenously into a silica scaffold and obtain a colourtuned germanium silicon oxide with ultra-long phosphorescence and delayed fluorescence across a broad temperature range.

Copper-based catalysts are promising for electroreduction of carbon monoxide to multi-carbon products, yet further improvements in selectivity, productivity and stability are still needed. Here the authors show that doping copper with silver and ruthenium boosts its performance towards synthesis of n-propanol—a useful fuel.

Electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to methane can store intermittent renewable electricity in a staple of global energy. Here, the authors develop a moderator strategy to maintain the catalyst in a low coordination state, thereby enabling stable and selective electrochemical methanation.

Electroreduction uses renewable energy to upgrade carbon dioxide to value-added chemicals and fuels. Here, the authors design a suite of ligand-stabilized metal oxide clusters to modulate the reduction pathways on a copper catalyst, enabling record activity for CO₂-to-methane conversion.