r/science • u/Wagamaga • Aug 06 '20

Chemistry Turning carbon dioxide into liquid fuel. Scientists have discovered a new electrocatalyst that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into ethanol with very high energy efficiency, high selectivity for the desired final product and low cost.

https://www.anl.gov/article/turning-carbon-dioxide-into-liquid-fuel
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u/KuriousInu Grad Student | Chemical Engineering | Heterogeneous Catalysis Aug 06 '20

right. electrocatalysis is a separate animal and may fair better in terms of scalability. I think I actually misread their question and thought they were asking about the top commenter's research, but i guess i gave a general overview of both.

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u/truthovertribe Aug 06 '20

Well, I'm not a chemical engineering grad student. To me a catalyst is anything which speeds up a desired process, so I suppose copper could either be an electrocatalyst by efficiently carrying electricity or a chemical catalyst. I didn't understand from the article which was being referred to.