Spin‐Selective Hydrogen Utilization Enables Efficient Electrochemical CO 2 ‐to‐CH 4 Conversion in Ag‐Modified Chiral Cu Catalysts for Unassisted Solar Fuel Production

ABSTRACT Although electrochemical CO 2 ‐to‐CH 4 conversion offers a viable pathway to sustainable fuel synthesis, its efficiency is limited by the difficulty of balancing the availability of reactive hydrogen species for multistep CO 2 hydrogenation against the suppression of the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, we establish a spin‐selective catalytic strategy using Ag‐modified chiral Cu electrocatalysts to overcome this intrinsic trade‐off. Structural chirality in the Cu framework induces chirality‐induced spin selectivity, which disfavors spin‐singlet H 2 formation, thereby mitigating the HER and favoring productive hydrogen utilization toward CO 2 hydrogenation. Ag modification facilitates the supply of *CO intermediates on adjacent Cu sites. Thus, the chiral Ag/Cu catalyst selectively drives CO 2 reduction toward CH 4 , delivering a CH 4 Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 67.0% at −0.7 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode while suppressing the HER. When coupled with perovskite‐based photoelectrochemical electrodes, the chiral catalyst enables unassisted solar‐driven CO 2 ‐to‐CH 4 conversion with an FE CH4 of 54.1% and a solar‐to‐fuel efficiency of 5.86%. These results suggest spin‐selective hydrogen utilization as an effective approach to selective hydrocarbon synthesis and bias‐free solar CO 2 ‐to‐fuel conversion.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Materials
Published
2026-11-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.75640
Primary Topic
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Spin‐Selective Hydrogen Utilization Enables Efficient Electrochemical CO 2 ‐to‐CH 4 Conversion in Ag‐Modified Chiral Cu Catalysts for Unassisted Solar Fuel Production

Jooho Moon, Subin Moon, Soobin Lee, Sooyeon Kim et al.
7 links
Advanced Materials
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
article

Spin‐Selective Hydrogen Utilization Enables Efficient Electrochemical CO 2 ‐to‐CH 4 Conversion in Ag‐Modified Chiral Cu Catalysts for Unassisted Solar Fuel Production

Jooho Moon, Subin Moon, Soobin Lee, Sooyeon Kim, Wooyong Jeong, Sang Yeop Park, Young Sun Park, Jeongjun Lee, Chang-Seop Jeong, Hyungsoo Lee, Seonyoo Kim, Jun Hwan Kim, Donghyun Kim, Jaeeon Lim, Jihwon Park
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although electrochemical CO 2 ‐to‐CH 4 conversion offers a viable pathway to sustainable fuel synthesis, its efficiency is limited by the difficulty of balancing the availability of reactive hydrogen species for multistep CO 2 hydrogenation against the suppression of the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, we establish a spin‐selective catalytic strategy using Ag‐modified chiral Cu electrocatalysts to overcome this intrinsic trade‐off. Structural chirality in the Cu framework induces chirality‐induced spin selectivity, which disfavors spin‐singlet H 2 formation, thereby mitigating the HER and favoring productive hydrogen utilization toward CO 2 hydrogenation. Ag modification facilitates the supply of *CO intermediates on adjacent Cu sites. Thus, the chiral Ag/Cu catalyst selectively drives CO 2 reduction toward CH 4 , delivering a CH 4 Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 67.0% at −0.7 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode while suppressing the HER. When coupled with perovskite‐based photoelectrochemical electrodes, the chiral catalyst enables unassisted solar‐driven CO 2 ‐to‐CH 4 conversion with an FE CH4 of 54.1% and a solar‐to‐fuel efficiency of 5.86%. These results suggest spin‐selective hydrogen utilization as an effective approach to selective hydrocarbon synthesis and bias‐free solar CO 2 ‐to‐fuel conversion.

Advanced Materials
Yonsei University (KR), Myongji University (KR)
Yonsei University, National Research Foundation of Korea, Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea
Affordable and clean energy, Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 35%
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
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