Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Modular electrochemical synthesis for flexible chemical manufacturing

Nature Chemical Engineering volume 3, pages 142–146 (2026)Cite this article

Subjects

Electrochemical synthesis typically occurs in coupled systems, in which anodic and cathodic half-reactions proceed simultaneously in the same cell. This Comment discusses strategies that can decouple half-reactions to achieve modular electrochemical synthesis for flexible chemical manufacturing.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Electrochemical configurations for traditional coupled electrochemical systems and ModES systems that are increasingly powered by renewable electricity.
Fig. 2: Flexible chemical manufacturing using ModES and scalability considerations.

References

  1. Luna, P. D. et al. Science 364, eaav3506 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Biddinger, E. J. & Kenis, P. J. A. Electrochem. Soc. Interface 32, 41–46 (2023).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Verma, S., Lu, S. & Kenis, P. J. A. Nat. Energy 4, 466–474 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Symes, M. D. & Cronin, L. Nat. Chem. 5, 403–409 (2013).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Chen, L., Dong, X., Wang, Y. & Xia, Y. Nat. Commun. 7, 11741 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Dotan, H. et al. Nat. Energy 4, 786–795 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Wang, F. et al. ACS Energy Lett. 6, 1533–1539 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Wang, F. et al. Joule 5, 149–165 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Wang, R. et al. ACS Cent. Sci. 7, 2083–2091 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Michael, K. H. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 144, 22641–22650 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Wang, R., Ma, J., Sheng, H., Zavala, V. M. & Jin, S. Nat. Energy 9, 1064–1073 (2024).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Wang, R. et al. ACS Energy Lett. 9, 4673–4681 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Wang, R. et al. Nat. Sustain. 7, 179–190 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Dowling, A. W., Kumar, R. & Zavala, V. M. Appl. Energy 190, 147–164 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Liang, Y. & Yao, Y. Nat. Rev. Mater. 8, 109–122 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Rui Wang, Katelyn Michael & Song Jin

  2. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Paul J. A. Kenis

  3. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Victor M. Zavala

Authors
  1. Rui Wang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Katelyn Michael
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Paul J. A. Kenis
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Victor M. Zavala
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Song Jin
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Song Jin.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Chemical Engineering thanks Haohong Duan, Nikolay Kornienko and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, R., Michael, K., Kenis, P.J.A. et al. Modular electrochemical synthesis for flexible chemical manufacturing. Nat Chem Eng 3, 142–146 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-026-00364-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-026-00364-5

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing