Beyond Copper: Expanding the Horizon of CO ₂ Electrocatalysis for Multicarbon Product Formation

Copper-based CO2 electroreduction holds great promise for producing valuable C2+ products, but issues with selectivity, stability, high overpotentials, and limited extension beyond C4 products persist. Non-Cu catalysts, despite some performance gaps compared to copper, offer alternative pathways with encouraging advancements in overpotential, stability, and selectivity, particularly addressing copper’s limitations in producing higher-order products. This Focus Review delivers a critical framework of non-Cu catalysts in comparison with Cu catalysts, classifying them by key metrics, current density, selectivity, stability, and overpotential by directly linking each metric to the specific design strategies. It dives into how, why, and which strategies applied to non-Cu catalysts enhance specific key metrics in comparison with Cu. Moreover, it highlights how the non-Cu catalysts open the door to producing even beyond C4+ products, a barrier that copper has not crossed. Throughout a critical, side-by-side comparison with copper, we reveal the unique promise of non-Cu catalysts and outline visionary future paths to drive innovation in this evolving field.