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Updated: Mar 10, 2026

Solar-Driven Electrochemical Green Fuel Production from CO2 and Water Using Ti3C2Tx MXene-Supported CuZn and NiCo Catalysts
Published on: November 7, 2025
Multi-scale roles of water in electrocatalytic CO2 and CO reduction
Xiaoyang He1, Weiwen Zhou1, Junxiong Chen1
1State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Innovation Laboratory for Sciences and Technologies of Energy Materials of Fujian Province (IKKEM), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. shunji_xie@xmu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
The electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) in aqueous electrolytes is a cornerstone technology for achieving a carbon-neutral society. Beyond the direct CO2RR, the sequential reduction of CO2 to CO followed by the CO reduction reaction (CORR) offers an alternative pathway. Water plays a pivotal and complex multi-scale role in CO2RR/CORR systems. Its influence spans multiple scales, including micro-scale water-mediated reaction kinetics, meso-scale regulation of the local aqueous microenvironment, and macro-scale optimization of operational conditions. Factors at these different scales are interconnected and mutually interactive, ultimately determining the overall reaction performance. Therefore, this review establishes a comprehensive multi-scale framework for water regulation in both the CO2RR and the CORR. We systematically elucidate the roles of water, survey advanced regulation strategies, and discuss state-of-the-art in situ characterization and simulation techniques. Finally, we identify key challenges and provide a forward-looking perspective, emphasizing that as this technology matures towards large-scale applications, such synergistic, multi-scale regulation becomes increasingly critical. This work aims to offer a clear roadmap for designing high-performance, stable, and large-scale CO2RR/CORR systems and accelerating their practical implementation.
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