Stanford researchers discover new copper-based catalyst to produce ethanol from CO2

In California, Stanford researchers recently innovated a renewable method of producing the fuel additive, ethanol. This method simply delivers water, carbon dioxide and electricity through a copper catalyst.

This innovation has enticed scientists and current state-of-the-art electrocatalysts will be improved in product selectivity and energy efficiency to make this alternative solution viable for the future.

Researchers had produced copper electrodes with single-crystals but for this study, they discovered a new way to grow single crystal-like copper on top of silicon and sapphire. This innovation resulted in films of each form of copper with a 6-square centimeter surface, 600 times bigger than typical single crystals.