Writing in the December 27, 2023 issue of Nature Nanotechnology, Calton and Joel provide an analysis of the recent report by Chen et al. in which electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction was performed in acid with a reduction in acid with a nano-structured
tandem catalyst. Operation in acid avoids undesired dissolution of CO2 in the electrolyte, enabling high single-pass
conversion efficiency and selectivity to useful C–C coupled products, bringing the process closer to commercial viability.