Our A-LEAF partners at ETH Zürich, lead by Prof. Javier Pérez-Ramírez, have discovered the key participation of the interface in the catalytic activity of In/Cu electrodes for the selective and efficienct CO₂ reduction reaction toward CO.  This result was possible thanks to a novel experimental approach developed by Prof. Pérez-Ramírez’s team. This approach consists in the deposition of microscale structures (In or In₂O₃, in this case), patterned by ultraviolet (UV) photolithography, on the desired  support (Cu or Cu₂O, in this case). The relation between the catalytic activity the geometry and composition of the electrodes, in combination with microscopy, allowed linking the electrocatalytic activity to the density of indium-poor bimetallic phases formed at the vicinity of the indium–copper interfaces upon exposure to reaction conditions.

This work, “Microfabricated electrodes unravel the role of interfaces in multicomponent copper-based CO₂ reduction catalysts” was published (Open Access) on April 16th  in Nature Communications, 9, 1477, doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03980-9, and it is also available  in our A-LEAF repository. This represents the first A-LEAF contribution to the the prestigious Nature family of journals from Springer-Nature, and a significant advance in the understanding of this complex catalytic reaction, key step for the realization of artificial photosynthesis.