A research team led by Professor Hyoyoung Lee from the Department of Chemistry at Sungkyunkwan University has developed a new catalyst that converts carbon dioxide into ethanol with high selectivity.

Carbon dioxide is a major greenhouse gas, but it can also be used as a carbon source for producing valuable fuels and chemicals. Ethanol is particularly attractive because it is widely used as a renewable fuel, solvent, disinfectant, and industrial raw material. However, conventional CO2-conversion systems often produce several unwanted by-products, requiring energy-intensive separation and purification processes.

To overcome this challenge, the SKKU research team designed a catalyst in which copper and zinc atoms are positioned directly next to each other on a carbon support. At this extremely small scale, the two metals work together: zinc helps prepare key reaction intermediates, while copper promotes the formation of carbon–carbon bonds required to produce ethanol.

This cooperative structure directs the reaction more efficiently toward ethanol while reducing the formation of competing products.

Catalyst achieves 69% ethanol Faradaic efficiency in MEA system. These results demonstrate both high product selectivity and promising operational stability.

The study provides a new catalyst-design strategy based on controlling chemical reactions atom by atom. With further improvements in current density, energy efficiency, product concentration, and long-term operation, this approach could support the future electrochemical conversion of captured CO2 into useful liquid fuels and chemical feedstocks.

The study, titled “Atomic-scale Cu–Zn synergy directs asymmetric C–C coupling for ethanol-selective CO2 electroreduction,” was published in Applied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy (IF 19.7). The article was published online on June 29, 2026.