A better understanding of the mechanism of electrochemical CO2 reduction should enable development of electrocatalysts that are more active and selective. Now, through an isotopic labelling strategy, it has been discovered that there are at least two types of active sites on Cu electrocatalysts, one responsible for converting CO2 to CO and another for further converting CO to useful C2+ products.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
De Luna, P. et al. Science 364, eaav3506 (2019).
Nitopi, S. et al. Chem. Rev. 119, 7610–7672 (2019).
Shin, H., Hansen, K. U. & Jiao, F. Nat. Sustain. 4, 911–919 (2021).
Birdja, Y. Y. et al. Nat. Energy 4, 732–745 (2019).
Gao, W., Xu, Y., Fu, L., Chang, X. & Xu, B. Nat. Catal. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-023-01002-6 (2023).
Wang, X. et al. Nat. Nanotechnol. 14, 1063–1070 (2019).
Wei, P. et al. Nat. Nanotechnol. 18, 299–306 (2023).
Lum, Y. & Ager, J. W. Nat. Catal. 2, 86–93 (2019).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lum, Y., Ager, J.W. Two active sites are better than one. Nat Catal 6, 864–865 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-023-01028-w
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-023-01028-w
