Operando studies track Cu in action

The active sites of Cu catalysts for CO2 electrocatalysis during operation remain elusive. In a recent publication in Nature, Yang et al. utilized multimodal operando techniques to investigate structural dynamics of Cu nanocatalysts throughout their life cycle, revealing metallic Cu nanograin boundaries as the active sites for promoting C-C coupling. The active sites of Cu catalysts for CO2 electrocatalysis during operation remain elusive. In a recent publication in Nature, Yang et al. utilized multimodal operando techniques to investigate structural dynamics of Cu nanocatalysts throughout their life cycle, revealing metallic Cu nanograin boundaries as the active sites for promoting C-C coupling.