Mechanistic insights into selective CO2 electroreduction to methanol on cobalt tetraaminophthalocyanine

Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 and CO to methanol on cobalt phthalocyanine catalysts suffers from low selectivity and an incomplete understanding of the kinetics and underlying mechanism. Reporting in Nature Synthesis, Wang and colleagues systematically investigated the mechanism of electrochemical CO-to-methanol conversion. The mechanistic findings inspired the operation of high-pressure electrolysis, and the catalyst showed remarkable selectivity toward methanol formation.