Copper nanocluster research improves CO2 to methanol conversion efficiency

Researchers at Tohoku University and the Indian Institute of Technology Indore have developed a copper nanocluster catalyst that converts carbon dioxide into methanol more selectively. By engineering the ratio of copper ions in the nanocluster, the team suppressed unwanted formate production and achieved a Faradaic efficiency of about 19% for methanol at -1.0 V versus RHE. The work was published in JACS Au and represents a step toward practical electrochemical CO2 reduction for fuel production. This approach uses copper, a cheap and abundant material, and operates under mild conditions. The key advance is atomic-level control of the catalyst's electronic structure to steer the reaction toward methanol instead of formate. While still at the lab scale, the research shows a path to more efficient carbon utilization for renewable energy storage and synthetic fuel production.