Spin Polarized Chiral Co 3 O 4 Boosts High‐Pressure CO 2 Electroreduction to Ethanol With 90% Selectivity

ABSTRACT Electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction (CO 2 RR) to value‐added multicarbon products using non‐copper‐based catalysts remains a major challenge, especially for selective ethanol production. Herein, we report that chiral Co 3 O 4 featuring strong electron spin polarization achieves a maximum ethanol Faradaic efficiency of 90% at ‐0.9 V versus NHE in KHCO 3 electrolytes under a 30 bar CO 2 pressure, substantially outperforming both racemic Co 3 O 4 and previously reported non‐copper‐based catalysts. The enhanced spin polarization in chiral Co 3 O 4 facilitates electron transfer and promotes the activation of the adsorbed CO 2 , while also lowering the free energy change for C–C coupling to form *COCHO intermediate, thereby promoting ethanol production. Our work establishes spin polarization as a key determinant for efficient C–C coupling on non‐copper‐based catalysts and provides mechanistic principles for the rational design of CO 2 RR electrocatalyst.

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Publication Details

Journal
Angewandte Chemie
Published
2026-10-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.1640517
Primary Topic
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
Type
article
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article

Spin Polarized Chiral Co 3 O 4 Boosts High‐Pressure CO 2 Electroreduction to Ethanol With 90% Selectivity

Ruquan Ye, Yike Ye, Shuaishuai Ding, Bolong Huang et al.
Angewandte Chemie
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
article

Spin Polarized Chiral Co 3 O 4 Boosts High‐Pressure CO 2 Electroreduction to Ethanol With 90% Selectivity

Ruquan Ye, Yike Ye, Shuaishuai Ding, Bolong Huang, Runyao Zhao, Can Yu, Zhichuan Jason Xu, Bing Ni, Bing Tang, Jiaju Fu, Wenping Hu, Yunzhe Ke, Mingzi Sun, Zhicheng Zhang, Chao Jin, Zhimin Liu, Mingliang Hu, Junjun Li, Bo Wang, Yu Zhang
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction (CO 2 RR) to value‐added multicarbon products using non‐copper‐based catalysts remains a major challenge, especially for selective ethanol production. Herein, we report that chiral Co 3 O 4 featuring strong electron spin polarization achieves a maximum ethanol Faradaic efficiency of 90% at ‐0.9 V versus NHE in KHCO 3 electrolytes under a 30 bar CO 2 pressure, substantially outperforming both racemic Co 3 O 4 and previously reported non‐copper‐based catalysts. The enhanced spin polarization in chiral Co 3 O 4 facilitates electron transfer and promotes the activation of the adsorbed CO 2 , while also lowering the free energy change for C–C coupling to form *COCHO intermediate, thereby promoting ethanol production. Our work establishes spin polarization as a key determinant for efficient C–C coupling on non‐copper‐based catalysts and provides mechanistic principles for the rational design of CO 2 RR electrocatalyst.

Angewandte Chemie
University of Science and Technology of China (CN), Tianjin University (CN), City University of Hong Kong (HK), Nanyang Technological University (SG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Beijing Normal University (CN), Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (CN), National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (CN), Institute of Chemistry (CN), State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution (HK), Tsinghua University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 35%
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
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