{"id":781796,"date":"2026-07-06T03:01:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T03:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/781796\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T03:01:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T03:01:24","slug":"cu-nanocluster-engineering-boosts-co2-to-fuel-conversion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/781796\/","title":{"rendered":"Cu Nanocluster Engineering Boosts CO2-to-Fuel Conversion"},"content":{"rendered":"

A collaborative research team from Tohoku University and the Indian Institute of Technology Indore has made a significant breakthrough in carbon dioxide (CO\u2082) conversion. Their discovery offers a promising strategy for converting harmful CO\u2082 into valuable fuels and chemicals under mild conditions, advancing efforts toward sustainable carbon utilization and clean energy technologies. The findings were published in JACS Au on June 30, 2026.<\/p>\n

Nanoclusters made of copper (Cu) – an inexpensive, naturally abundant material – have been gaining traction as promising aids of catalytic transformations. If developed correctly, these nanoclusters can improve the efficiency of a reaction called the electrochemical CO\u2082 reduction reaction. Doing so may bring us closer to developing better renewable energy storage and becoming a carbon neutral society.<\/p>\n

One issue in this reaction is that formate – an unwanted byproduct – is conventionally produced. To suppress formate production, the research team modulated the Cu(I)\/Cu(II) ratio in a Cu nanocluster. Instead of formate, the reaction now selectively produces the desired outcome: methanol (CH3OH). This greatly improves the efficiency of the reaction.<\/p>\n

Representation of the whole work with nanocluster structures and their CO\u2082 reduction capabilities. Hydrogen atoms are omitted for clarity. \u00a9Yuichi Negishi et al.<\/p>\n

To achieve this boost in efficiency, the researchers needed to precisely engineer the structure of the nanocluster. The result was a structurally well-defined sulfide-templated Cu nanocluster, [S@Cu\u2085\u2080S\u2081\u2082(StBu)\u2082\u2080(CF\u2083COO)\u2081\u2082] (S@Cu\u2085\u2080) featuring a unique core-shell architecture composed of an inner S@Cu\u2081\u2084S\u2081\u2082 core surrounded by an outer Cu36(StBu)20 shell protected by thiolate ligands. This allowed for the controlled modulation of the Cu(I)\/Cu(II) ratio, while preserving the overall geometric framework.<\/p>\n

Detailed structural architecture of synthesized S@Cu\u2085\u2080 NC (a) Overall core-shell structural architecture (b) geometry of core and (c) geometry of shell. Hydrogen atoms are omitted for clarity. \u00a9Yuichi Negishi et al.<\/p>\n

In addition, the team compared this nanocluster to a reported Cu\u2085\u2080S\u2081\u2082(StBu)\u2082\u2080(CF\u2083COO)\u2081\u2082] (Cu\u2085\u2080) nanocluster analogue, to directly investigate the influence of valence-state changes on catalytic performance.<\/p>\n

Although both nanoclusters share very similar structural frameworks, the introduction of a sulfide ion at the center of the S@Cu\u2085\u2080 cluster led to subtle but crucial changes in its electronic properties. Altering the overall valence-state distribution of Cu and shifting the electronic structure significantly changed how reaction intermediates interacted with the catalyst surface, ultimately redirecting CO\u2082 conversion.<\/p>\n

Normalised DOS and p-DOS of Cu d orbitals are presented along with the evaluated d-band center, d-band width and their relative position with respect to the Fermi level for (a) Cu\u2085\u2080 NC and (b) S@Cu\u2085\u2080 NC. \u00a9Yuichi Negishi et al.<\/p>\n

The researchers found that although both nanoclusters exhibited comparable overall catalytic activity, their product selectivity during CO\u2082 electroreduction differed remarkably. While Cu\u2085\u2080 predominantly produced formate (the undesired outcome) with a Faradaic efficiency of 38%, the newly developed nanocluster significantly suppressed formate formation to below 11% and instead enabled selective methanol production with a Faradaic efficiency of approximately 19% at \u22121.0 V versus RHE – a product completely absent in the Cu\u2085\u2080 system.<\/p>\n

(a) LSV plots for both nanoclusters comparing their CO\u2082 reduction capabilities, (b) FE of all products with Cu\u2085\u2080 NC, (c) FE of all products with S@Cu\u2085\u2080 at different potential, (d) FE of all products comparison of both nanoclusters at -1.0 v vs RHE. \u00a9Yuichi Negishi et al.<\/p>\n

“This study provides the first clear evidence that precise modulation of the copper valence state in Cu nanoclusters can directly influence the selectivity of CO\u2082 reduction pathways,” explains Professor Negishi (Tohoku University).<\/p>\n

This breakthrough marks an important step toward designing next-generation catalysts, where atomic-level control can unlock cleaner and more efficient pathways for converting CO\u2082 into valuable fuels<\/p>\n

Publication Details:<\/p>\n

Title: Atomic-Level Valence-State Engineering Redirects CO\u2082 Electroreduction on Cu Nanoclusters<\/p>\n

Authors: Qilin Li, Mandira Ghosh, Mohd Rashid, Rupa Sarma, Pradip Kumar Mondal, Tokuhisa Kawawaki, Sourav Biswas, Biswarup Pathak, and Yuichi Negishi<\/p>\n

Journal: JACS Au<\/p>\n

DOI: 10.1021\/jacsau.6c00817<\/a><\/p>\n

\/Public Release. This material from the originating organization\/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A collaborative research team from Tohoku University and the Indian Institute of Technology Indore has made a significant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,128],"class_list":["post-781796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}