A schematic of the MEA system featuring a single-atom dimer catalyst. [Sungkyunkwan University]
A schematic of the MEA system featuring a single-atom dimer catalyst. [Sungkyunkwan University]

South Korean researchers have developed a technology that can selectively produce the high-value compound ethanol from carbon dioxide without separating byproducts.

The National Research Foundation of Korea announced Monday that a research team led by Lee Hyo-young, a professor at Sungkyunkwan University, has developed a single-atom dimer electrocatalyst technology that converts carbon dioxide into ethanol with high efficiency.

Technology that captures and utilizes carbon dioxide to transform it into high-value compounds is considered a key pillar of carbon neutrality. Existing catalyst technologies, however, produce multiple byproducts during the reaction, requiring large-scale refining equipment and additional energy to extract pure compounds — factors that have significantly undermined commercial viability.

Developing a carbon dioxide reduction (CO2RR) catalyst technology capable of selectively producing high-purity compounds without byproduct separation, even in real commercial cell environments, has long been an urgent challenge in the field.

The research team developed a new single-atom dimer catalyst by pairing one copper atom and one zinc atom on a nitrogen-doped graphene substrate with strong electrical conductivity.

Single-atom catalysts maximize atomic utilization, but a single atom alone has limitations in converting carbon dioxide into the complex ethanol molecule.

The single-atom dimer catalyst features two adjacent metal atoms working in tandem to drive the reaction. This arrangement effectively facilitates carbon-carbon (C-C) bond formation — the most demanding and critical step in converting carbon dioxide to ethanol — and maximizes conversion efficiency.

Notably, the team went beyond basic laboratory-level testing using a three-electrode setup and validated the catalyst's performance by applying it directly to a commercial membrane electrode assembly (MEA) cell system of the kind used in actual industrial settings.

Lee Hyo-young, professor at Sungkyunkwan University. [Sungkyunkwan University]
Lee Hyo-young, professor at Sungkyunkwan University. [Sungkyunkwan University]

While existing catalysts showed a sharp drop in performance when applied to commercial cells, the newly developed catalyst achieved an ethanol selectivity of 69 percent — the highest reported value — without any additional purification process. It also maintained stable performance for 55 hours without degradation.

"If this research is put into practical use, the technology to convert carbon dioxide into ethanol will make a significant contribution to addressing climate change," Lee said. "Continued development of catalyst design and MEA technology will help accelerate the commercialization of electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction."

The study, conducted with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea's mid-career researcher support program, was published in the international journal Applied Catalysis B: Environmental and Energy on July 1.


nbgkoo@heraldcorp.com