Barriers and opportunities for the deployment of CO₂ electrolysis in net-zero emissions energy systems

As energy systems across the globe transition toward net-zero emissions, the decarbonization of hard-to-decarbonize sectors, e.g., industry and transportation, is becoming more crucial. Renewable power-driven carbon dioxide (CO₂) electrolysis has the potential to facilitate this transition by (1) substituting carbon-intensive...

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction on nanostructured metal electrodes: Fact or defect?

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction has received an increased amount of interest in the last decade as a promising avenue for storing renewable electricity in chemical bonds. Despite considerable progress on catalyst performance using nanostructured electrodes, the sensitivity of the reaction to process conditions has led to debate on...

Pathways to Industrial-Scale Fuel Out of Thin Air from CO₂ Electrolysis

Using renewable energy as an input, Power-to-X technologies have the potential to replace fossil fuels and chemicals with dense-energy carriers that are instead derived out of thin air. In this work, we put into context what the industrial-scale production of chemicals from ambient CO₂ using CO₂ electrolysis means in...

In-Situ Infrared Spectroscopy Applied to the Study of the Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO₂: Theory, Practice and Challenges

The field of electrochemical CO₂ conversion is undergoing significant growth in terms of the number of publications and worldwide research groups involved. Despite improvements of the catalytic performance, the complex reaction mechanisms and solution chemistry of CO₂ have resulted in a considerable amount of...