The optimal operating temperature of CO₂ electrolyzers ranges from 35 to 80 °C. Yet, current catalysts tend to deactivate as temperature increases. What if we could design catalysts that not only maintain their performance at higher temperatures—but actually improve it?Here, we propose liquid metal nanoparticles as CO₂ electroreduction catalysts which improve their CO2 performance with increasing temperature. In particular, we developed a colloidal synthesis method which provides access to monodispersed In–Ga nanoparticles with tunable indium content. The synthesis generates temperature- and voltage-responsive supercooled metastable nanoparticles, which show a unique temperature-dependent modulation of active sites, as indium dissolves into the liquid Ga matrix. This progressive In dissolution results in increasing formate production with temperature. Read more here!FundingThis work was primarily financed by the SERI Horizon Europe Consolidator Grant Number 101043962/MB22.00065 TULIPReferencesC. Boulanger, P. Torruella, K. Kumar, P. Schouwink, P. Albertini, A. Loiudice, R. Buonsanti “Colloidal Synthesis Enables Indium Solubility Modulation in Liquid Gallium Nanoparticles for Temperature-dependent Generation of CO2 Electrocatalytic Active Sites” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026, https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c11963
Congratulations to Coline for her JACS paper!
The optimal operating temperature of CO₂ electrolyzers ranges from 35 to 80 °C. Yet, current catalysts tend to deactivate as temperature increases. What if we could design catalysts that not only maintain their performance at higher temperatures—but actually improve it?
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