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Chirality-induced spin selectivity as a mechanism to control product selectivity during electrochemical CO2 reduction

Nature Energy (2026) Cite this article

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Abstract

Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction often suffers from competition with the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which lowers efficiency and limits product selectivity. Recent studies suggest that electron spin, when controlled at an electrode surface, can influence reaction pathways, but direct evidence linking spin effects to suppressed HER has been limited. Here we show that helical chiral copper (Cu) electrodes reduce competing HER during CO2 reduction, consistent with spin polarization induced via the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect. The helically structured Cu electrodes are fabricated by electrodeposition with a chiral templating reagent. Time-resolved Kerr ellipticity measurements, which track spin-polarized carriers generated by an ultrafast Seebeck current, confirm spin accumulation at the chiral Cu surface. This spin polarization disfavours H–H bond formation, thereby suppressing HER and enabling formate production alongside CO. These findings demonstrate that chirality-based spin control offers a strategy for steering selectivity in CO2 reduction and other reactions where HER is an undesired competitor.

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Fig. 1: In situ spectro-electrochemistry set-up for chiral Cu electrodeposition.
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Fig. 2: Chiroptical properties of the electrodeposited chiral Cu electrodes.
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Fig. 3: SEM images of opposite-handed helical Cu structures.
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Fig. 4: In situ Raman spectroscopy during the electrodeposition of Cu electrodes.
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Fig. 5: Electrochemical characterization of chiral and achiral Cu electrodes in CO2-saturated 1 M KHCO3 with pH 7.8.
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Fig. 6: Time-resolved non-contact probe of the CISS.
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Data availability

All data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper, the Supplementary Information and the accompanying source data file. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work was authored by the National Laboratory of the Rockies for the US Department of Energy (DOE), operated under contract number DE-AC36-08GO28308. This work was supported by U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences, Photochemistry and Radiation Chemistry Program. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the US Government. The US Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for US Government purposes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials, Chemistry, and Computational Sciences Directorate, National Laboratory of the Rockies, Golden, CO, USA

    Jeiwan Tan, Jacob L. Shelton, Demelza Wright, Md Azimul Haque, Simran S. Saund, Debjit Ghoshal, Trung H. Le, Yifan Dong, Michelle A. Smeaton, Katherine L. Jungjohann, Elisa M. Miller, Matthew C. Beard, Nathan R. Neale & Jao van de Lagemaat

  2. Department of Energy Engineering, Korea Institute of Energy Technology (KENTECH), Naju, Republic of Korea

    Jeiwan Tan

  3. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Md Azimul Haque, Elisa M. Miller, Matthew C. Beard, Nathan R. Neale & Jao van de Lagemaat

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Contributions

J.T., M.C.B., N.R.N. and J.v.d.L. conceived the project idea. J.T., J.L.S., D.W. and M.A.H. conducted experiments, analysed the data and drafted the paper. S.S.S., D.G., T.H.L., Y.D., M.A.S., K.L.J. and E.M.M. supported the experiments. M.C.B., N.R.N. and J.v.d.L. supervised the project, directed the research and contributed to writing the paper.

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Correspondence to Matthew C. Beard, Nathan R. Neale or Jao van de Lagemaat.

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Tan, J., Shelton, J.L., Wright, D. et al. Chirality-induced spin selectivity as a mechanism to control product selectivity during electrochemical CO2 reduction. Nat Energy (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-026-02062-1

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