Sustainable ethanol from carbon dioxide? A possible path

A recent discovery could lead to a new, more sustainable way to make ethanol without corn or other crops. This promising technology has three basic components: water, carbon dioxide and electricity delivered through a copper catalyst.To compare electrocatalytic performance, the researchers placed the three large electrodes in water, exposed them to carbon dioxide gas and applied a potential to generate an electric current.The results were clear. When a specific voltage was applied, the electrodes made of copper (751) were far more selective to liquid products, such as ethanol and propanol, than those made of copper (100) or (111). The explanation may lie in the different ways that copper atoms are aligned on the three surfaces."In copper (100) and (111), the surface atoms are packed close together, like a square grid and a honeycomb, respectively" Hahn said. "As a result, each atom is bonded to many other atoms around it, and that tends to make the surface more inert."